70 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTUEE. 



necessarily depart with age. Have you not seen a Avoman of 

 threescore who has borne a fomily of children, cared for them 

 as only a good mother can care for them, who has stood at the 

 head of all the interior affairs of the household, has presided 

 with equal grace and dignity at the table and in the drawing- 

 room, where wealth and learning have often assembled, and 

 who is to-day, doubtless, as beautiful as ever? I have seen 

 such a woman, and I know her well ; and she, and many 

 others such as she, show that a woman does not lose her 

 beauty by being a wife and a mother, nor by a proper amount 

 of responsil)ility, nor even by a proper amount of work with 

 her own hands. What then is it that gives the intensely care- 

 worn, jaded look to so many of our American women? "What 

 is it that so takes out the lines of beauty and substitutes lines 

 which nature never intended, we may well believe, should 

 be there? Drudgery, drudgery, drudgery I believe is the 

 true answer. Too much work, and at improper times, and 

 with too little recreation. Farmers, if you would add to the 

 comfort and light of your homes, see to it that you preserve 

 the strength and health and beauty of your wife. 



All the improvements which I have thus far suggested can 

 be made without any reduction of pecuniary income. Nay, 

 formers by carefully attending to these things are ultimately 

 far better oif even in a pecuniary point of view. But more 

 than all else, by doing these things they add comfort to their 

 homes and to their families, and make farm-life attractive to 

 their sons and to their daughters, who, as things are now, in 

 too many instances are even repelled by the untidiness and 

 unthrift which so extensively prevail in farm-life from one of 

 the noblest pursuits in which man may engage, and make 

 their way to the city, where, though some succeed, many 

 utterly and hopelessly fail. 



2. Farmers can vastly improve upon their present condition 

 by cutting more grass, and thus making more hay. The hay- 

 crop is one of the most important crops in the United Stated. 

 Taking the State as a whole, it is the most profitable crop 

 raised in the State of Massachusetts. Now, we are told that 

 the average yield of hay in this State is only a ton or a little 

 more per acre. 



Every good farmer will bear me witness that this amount is 



