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prison, at the same place, hardly less an establishment for the 

 insane, or for those afflicted with the most pitiable of all kinds 

 of insanity, a moral unsoundness ; the United States navy- 

 yard, at the same place ; the extensive nurseries and botanical 

 gardens at Brighton and Cambridge ; the monuments of taste 

 at Mount Auburn, and of patriotism at Concord, and Lexing- 

 ton, and Bunker Hill ; and the innumerable beautiful private 

 dwellings, may I not say palaces, which crown the hills and 

 adorn the valleys in Brighton, Cambridge, Watertown, Wal- 

 tham, Medford and other places, — conspire to render the county 

 of great interest. Perhaps no spot in the United States has 

 connected with it so many marked and stirring associations in 

 reference to the great events of our national history ; few places 

 have more at stake in the great interests of national industry ; 

 and from none are there sent out influences which operate with 

 more power upon the intellectual and moral condition of the 

 community. It does not, properly speaking, fall within my 

 province to go largely into these views ; yet there are few of 

 the interests of any community which are not directly and in- 

 timately connected with its agriculture. The population and 

 the employments of that population ; the numbers devoted to 

 the production of the fruits of the earth, and the numbers con- 

 cerned in their consumption ; the agricultural products used in 

 various branches of manufactures and commerce ; the variety 

 and demands of the various markets accessible ; the facilities of 

 communication with different markets, and the influence of 

 general employments and the means of education enjoyed upon 

 the character of the rural population, are all circumstances en- 

 titled to consideration in the present case. 



The surface of the county is in general flat, and not marked 

 by any great elevations. In looking at the present condition 

 of the county, and especially the vicinity of the capital, it is 

 instructive and impressive to contemplate the changes which 

 have been effected in a period comparatively not long. In pro- 

 ceeding northerly from Boston or Cambridge, in the course of a 

 very few miles the country becomes somewhat broken, and a 



