80 THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 



clam-shell, the dung-hill is called upon oftener than is 

 the sea or the stream for its fish. We now store in 

 cribs, rather than in the sacks of our instructors buried 

 in the sand ; yet the Southern Indian had cribs, even as 

 we have now. 



It is a valuable reflection this, the antiquity of the cul- 

 tivation of the corn, and the little progress in the method 

 of its culture which civilization has been enabled to add. 

 It is worthy of thought, this paradox, that in this one 

 case civilization is instructed by barbarism, instead of 

 instructing. Did the Indian attain perfection, or is it 

 ourselves who are satisfied not to progress ? This latter 

 question seems the true one : for the Western farmer has 

 departed from the Indian ways, and meets a greater suc- 

 cess; the progressive farmer here and there in New 

 England has left the track beaten for him by custom, 

 and finds his gain. Yes, it is a fact, the cultivation by 

 the red man was sufficient for him with his resources, 

 but is far from satisfactory for us with our resources. It 

 is time we should follow in the line of civilization, even 

 if we would not be in the van ; and it is folly for us to 

 longer continue in the line traced by barbarians, rather 

 than by an educated experience. 



WAUSHAKUM FARM, SOUTH FRAMINGHAM, MASS. 



[Written for and published originally in " The Massachusetts Ploughman."] 



