1884.] HEALTH OF THE FARMER AND HIS FAMILY. 131 



AFTERNOON SESSION. 



The meeting was called to order at two o'clock by Mr. 

 Barstow, who said : 



This afternoon we are to have a lecturer who has had large 

 experience in city and country life, who can tell us much that 

 it will be useful for us to know. I have the pleasure of intro- 

 ducing to you Dr. Bowen. 



THE HEALTH OF THE FARMER AND HIS FAMILY. 



By Dr. G. A. Bowen. 



At the very top of one of the heavy undulating hills that 

 abound in the northeastern portion of the State, is my little farm. 

 From near the door of the house the observer can behold a land- 

 scape almost startling in its beauty. Cultivated farms, with their 

 neat white dwellings embowered with trees, stretch away on either 

 side. A heavy wooded slope, miles in length, forms a dark back- 

 ground to the Senexet meadows which lie below, through which 

 winds a silvery stream expanding into a beautiful lake, which 

 mirrors upon its surface the sky and surrounding objects. Should 

 another observer on Round Hill at the north, look down the valley, 

 his eye would behold the same landscape, its sand dunes and 

 meadows, its wooded slopes, the winding river, and picturesque 

 lake ; so would another observer located on my friend Bartholo- 

 mew's hill in Pomfrefc, and looking upwards from the south • but 

 should the three come together to compare what they had seen, 

 their descriptions would vary so greatly as to cause one to think 

 that they had viewed totally different scenery, but the only differ- 

 ence would be in the stand-point of the observer. 



These series of winter meetings have long been held, at which I 

 have heard the lawyer define the legal points of farming as a call- 

 ing, the business man has given his views as seen through his 

 mercantile eyes, and various scholars have presented the scientific 

 aspect of its numerous details. Now, by invitation of the secretary 

 of this Board, I will present the views that I take of it, judging it 

 from my particular stand-point of observation, which is a medical 

 one, and I know that it will differ as greatly from much that has 

 been presented, as would the descriptions of those who might view 

 the landscape that I have described. 



