:^80 SELECTIONS FROM ADDRESSES. 



one-third of the vineyard. The remainder produced as much 

 as the whole had produced before. When the second daughter 

 married, he gave her half of what remained, and still he suffer- 

 ed no loss in the amount of produce. There was no magic in 

 this. The one-third of his vineyard remaining to him, receiv- 

 ed the attention and cultivation which he had bestowed upon 

 the whole, and returned the fruit of his labor. There is 

 nothing that will show the effect of good treatment sooner, or 

 more fully than mother earth. She repays with interest all 

 she receives. 



Thorough manuring and thorough tillage will surely render 

 the soil more productive. And the pleasure of improving land 

 in a state of high cultivation, to say nothing of the profit, 

 should induce every farmer to make it an object to bring his 

 farm into this state. Let him begin with one lot, and bring 

 that up to the desired condition, and then another. This can 

 be done at a profit. Some farmers seem to think that they 

 must plant just so much ground, in order to raise a given num- 

 ber of bushels of corn, but experience will show, that the num- 

 ber of acres planted, will by no means determine the quantity 

 that will be raised. 



There is certainly less labor in cultivating two acres well, 

 than in cultivating four poorly ; and if by the course suggested, 

 the same quantity can be raised upon the two as upon the four, 

 where is the loss ? And even if it should make only one-quar- 

 ter's difference in the first crop, the value of the subsequent 

 crops being increased in the same proportion, would make this 

 course the most profitable. I speak somewhat from experience 

 on this subject. A farmer being once asked how he made farm- 

 ing profitable, replied, "by feeding high." His lands and his 

 stock were all fed high, and they returned a large profit. 



It should be the ambition of the farmers of Worcester coun- 

 ty, to make this Heart of the Commonwealth as a well watered 

 garden. It suffers nothing in comparison with any other por- 

 tion of New England, in the capability of its soil, and the enter- 

 prise of its inhabitants. Nature has done her part, and all that 

 is necessary, is for us to do ours. I hold it to be the duty of 

 every man who owns an acre of land, to cultivate it well. It 



