400 



plants and improved animals, thus seeking to advance the sub- 

 stantial welfare of the whole agricultural community. 1 cannot 

 but hope that the examples of a few such men may not be lost 

 upon the many hundreds of men of wealth in our cities, who, 

 having devoted the early part of life exclusively to accumula- 

 tion, give up its close to mere indolence or sensual indulgence ; or 

 like the dog in the manger, think it enough to lie down upon 

 their heaps of gold to guard with sleepless vigilance against the 

 abstraction of a single sixpence; and know nothing of the pur- 

 est of all felicity and the highest of all honor, that of doing good 

 and living to the benefit of others. In this beneficent use of 

 wealth its actual value is doubled ; and while Mr Gushing 

 finds a useful occupation and an interesting pleasure in making 

 these experiments and improvements, there is here no monop- 

 oly or exclusion, for others find an equal pleasure in observing 

 their progress, and learning and applying their results. 



3. The next farm to which I shall refer is that of Amos Hill, 

 in West Cambridge, in that highly cultivated district of which 

 I have before spoken. 



Mr. Hill's farm consists of 194 acres. Tillage 25, English 

 mowing 60, wet meadow 60, pasture 20, orcharding 15, wood 

 10, salt marsh 4 acres. The salt marsh is distant from home. The 

 greater part of the remainder is in one body, and most of it on 

 a level surface. 



Mr. Hill commenced some years since the draining of his 

 meadows. He completed, at his own individual expense, the 

 draining of one hundred acres, before application was made to 

 the Legislature to eff"ect the great improvement in this way of 

 which 1 have given an account in page 354. To this tract his 

 land lies adjacent. This improvement is still going on, a sec- 

 ond gate having been erected by which the water is brought 

 entirely under command. The advance in the value of these 

 lands by this improvement is enormous. It may well quicken 

 the ambition of others to improve their grounds, wherever im- 

 provement is practical lie. Before this operation this land was 

 sold for 20 and sometimes 10 dollars per acre ; that which is 



