46 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



beauty and strength on the farm. That speaks when all else is 

 silent. Every sound agriculturist knows that if he has a good 

 crop he must have, as he himself is concerned, three things: — 



First — Good and well prepared ground. 



Second — Good seed. 



Third— Good tillage. 



These must be guarded and guided by wise calculation and 

 prompt action. 



What a power has the use of mind in farming been, for two 

 hundred and thirty-nine years, amid the hills and valleys, rivers 

 and lakes, rocks and trees of this our heaven-blessed New Eng- 

 land. Tell the amount of labor here expended in gathering 

 stones, felling trees, ploughing, planting, reaping, building, 

 shading, enriching and beautifying this our rugged, rock-based, 

 stone-sprinkled soil ! As well tell the number of rain-drops that 

 have here fallen, or the buds that have here opened in forest and 

 orchard, or the waves that from old ocean have rolled and 

 broken upon Plymouth's shore ! This untold amount of labor, 

 performed by male and female mind and hands, under heaven's 

 smiles, has been the great sustaining power of our successes 

 in the past, and of our blessings in the present. Be assured, 

 Mr. President and members of this association, that in the year 

 1*720 it was written and published in England thus of New 

 England : " It is the unhappiness of the country to have no 

 staple commodity to export to England, while they import hence 

 all their cloths, woollens, silks, hats, linen, calico, iron ware, 

 tools, knives, scissors, nails, and the like. As things are, New 

 England must be poor. Having nothing to sell, it can have 

 nothing with which to buy. There is hardly coin of silver or 

 gold enough for the retail business! Thus it will be impossible 

 for the country to subsist of itself for some centuries to come ! " 

 The advice given to our fathers was to remain quiet, and, as 

 dutiful children, merit any favors the crown might see fit to 

 grant. Are such statements to us now matters of mirth ? Yes, 

 we smile, and wu do well. But as we smile, let us remember 

 the toil on the land, in the shop, in the school, in the pulpit, in 

 the forum ; toil amid dangers and privations, battle and blood- 

 shed, that has made logical calculations false, and even mathe- 

 matical demonstrations void. Why, gentlemen, only so far 

 behind us as 1750, the erection of any mill, engine, forge, trip- 



