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sldered right and proper. It is worthy of consideration, that while 

 other things have gone on, in the march of improvement, some things 

 have remained unmoved, and have felt none of the new influence. 

 The force of habit is so powerful, that even when it can be demon- 

 strated to be bad, there is a strong reluctance to set about a 

 reformation. While we admire that reverence for ancestors, so 

 distinguishable in the New England character, we cannot admit it 

 should be carried so far as to shut out all the benefits to be derived 

 from later discoveries. It must be admitted, that the agricultural 

 interests of New England have received great benefits and pecuniary 

 advantage from the introduction of new races of animals ; new seeds 

 of plants ; new modes of raising various crops ; and new methods of 

 preparing lands for the seed. The long legs, tombstone faces, and 

 lathy bodies of the old race of cattle have, in a degree, disappeared ; 

 the sheep, remarkable only for size and quantity of bone, and for 

 their power of surmounting fences, have been nearly cut oflF: and 

 the pigs, looking more like lean dromedaries than swine, have made 

 their last appearance in the regions where the light of new truths 

 has penetrated ; and the old races of our horses have been still more 

 benefited by the introduction of a better stock, by the importation 

 of males and females from the improved races of Europe. With 

 these improvements have risen the prices of our domestic animals. 

 And, as their feed is much less costly than was the feed of the old 

 and bony cormorants of other days, that expense also has been saved 

 to the farmer. And our experimental agriculturists have gone 

 further : they have improved many of the imported breeds by ad- 

 mixture with the native races. Much more will be effected in time 

 to come, beyond all question. The march of improvement is not 

 often stopped, when attended by profit and blessing. Even the most 

 obstinate of the old school, who fondly believed in the perfect wisdom 

 of their fathers, cannot but look grave when they see the stock of an 

 enterprising neighbor look far larger, fatter, and more healthy, and 

 commanding thrice the prices of their own stock. The argument to 

 the purse is very convincing, and it is one to which a New England 

 man never turns a deaf ear or a blind eye. 



So many experiments of the vast benefits accruing from the 

 admixture of blood, have been made, and made successfully, that no 

 one who has examined can reasonably entertain any doubt. The 

 same law which we see operating in the human race, is applicable to 



