DETEE:\nNED TO SUCCEED. 15 



far from railroad in winter, and how much it must cost 

 to transfer our produce and our wants. AYith all these odds 

 against us, it is a matter of surprise that our population has 

 maintained its numbers to such an extent. You may desire 

 to know how, with all these disadvantages, we have got on 

 so well as we have. 



My first explanation is, in our resolution. I can speak 

 without liability to the charge of egotism, — as I am of com- 

 paratively recent residence, — when I say that our farmers, 

 seeing the difficulty before them, determined to succeed; and 

 so they have. They have had no spare capital to expend in 

 show, and no fancy farms to excite an unhealthy emulation, 

 and so they have, each one for himself, gone ahead with in- 

 dustry and economy. Another reason for success may be 

 found in the peculiar adaptation which this section of the 

 State has for agricultural purposes. Our soil may be consid- 

 ered the best, except the alluvial — as found in the Connecti- 

 cut Valley — consisting of claj' loam. The sand and loam it 

 contains, give it porosity and heat, and the clay gives it an 

 absorbing and retaining power ; making it (except the allu- 

 vial) the best which nature has bestowed, for raising spring 

 grains, market gardening, or fruits ; and what is of more 

 importance, a soil in which grasses, under favorable atmos- 

 pheric influence, grow through the whole season, when they 

 once start in the- spring. 



Geogi'aphically, j'ou have met on this occasion in the Jieart of 

 the Commonwealth. The people believe (and I doubt not the 

 accuracy of their conception) that the brains of the State tend 

 to the cities, and a large part of its activities, its arms and legs, 

 to the manufictnring and mechanical centres. But we must 

 remember that out of the heart are the rriany springs of action ; 

 it is the producing power from whence, and on which depend 

 the activity of brain and limb ; and it is for the brain to 

 infuse into the functions of the heart, so that this part shall 

 be, as well as the thronged cities, dominated and controlled 

 by its intelligent action. The farmer needs all the wisdom 

 he can get from the geologist, the chemist, the mineralogist, 

 the botanist, the zoologist and mechanic, with the financial 

 sagacity of the successful business man. 



It was our privilege a few weeks since to welcome to our 



