84 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



supply' of those bus}' millions of living heings, and all of this opu- 

 lence and splendor, was drawn from the fruitful soil. 



But, like the worm hidden in the earth and silently gnawing at 

 the root of the tree, despoiling it of its foliage and beauty, so maa, 

 as a destructive agent, in violating the laws of nature and destroy- 

 ing her harmonies, in exhausting the soil of its fertility, changed 

 this fruitful land that for centuries fed and clothed its millions, into 

 a barren waste. 



For centuries since this fairest domain of earth has been a land 

 of desolation and ruin, excepting a few monuments of former archi- 

 tectural splendor, that have in past defied the corroding tooth of 

 time, and are still magnificent in ruin ; even the location and the 

 name of once popular cities have been buried in oblivion, and for- 

 ever lost, while primeval silence and solitude prevail where onoe was 

 bounding life. 



Such, to-day, is the condition of Persia, Assyria and Babylon ; 

 and, to bring the topic to times less remote, the fairest and most 

 fruitful provinces of the Roman Empire, " that portion of terrestrial 

 surface which at the commencement of the Christian era was en- 

 dowed with the greatest superiority of soil, climate, and position ; 

 which had been carried to the highest pitch of physical improve- 

 ment, and which thus combined the natural and artificial conditions 

 best fitting it for the habitation of a dense and highly refined and 

 cultured population, is now completely exhausted of its fertility, 

 or so diminished in productiveness as, with the exception of a few 

 favored localities that have escaped the general ruin, to be no longer 

 capable of afl^ording sustenance to civilized man." 



Farmers of Maine, shall we heed the warning and escape the 

 doom? While our soils are not the most fertile, nor our skies the 

 most genial, ^-et nowhere in our countrj-, extending from ocean to 

 ocean and from the frozen North to the sunny South, can be found 

 a more moral, industrious, intelligent and temperate people than are 

 found occupying the farm homes of Maine. Shall we, "pilgrims 

 and sojourners here," despoil this goodly heritage, and leave for our 

 successors exhausted fields and barren wastes? The thronging army 

 of foreigners, that are crowding to our shores, do not find their way 

 to the rural towns of Maine. No ; these farms are the birthright of 

 our sons and daughters. 



If we would secure the success and happiness of our posterity, 

 and the future advancement and prosperit}' of agriculture — which 



