210 SELECTIONS FROM ADDRESSES. 



chusetts, the high price of labor is an insuperable objection to 

 large farms. As it is, men must not only not be idle, but must 

 at all times, and under all circumstances, work to the best ad- 

 vantage, or the proceeds of their labor will not pay their wages. 

 Upon large farms, numerous and long lines of fence are to be 

 kept in repair, taxes are to be looked after, work cannot be so 

 economically done, because much of it is at a distance, and a 

 large number of laborers must of necessity be employed, who, 

 to use an old adage, if they are not very carefully looked after, 

 will be likely to drink out of the broad end of the tunnel, and 

 hold the little one to their employer. I must not be understood 

 to say that no man can profitably manage a large farm here. 

 All rules have their exceptions. But I do say, that there are 

 very few Bonapartes in agriculture, and that the great body 

 of us are fit only to serve in the ranks. 



It is doubtful indeed, if these large farms are the most profit- 

 able any where ; for in countries where the cost of labor is 

 almost nominal, small farms are said to produce the largest in- 

 come. Stretching along at the foot of the Alps, those ever- 

 memorable mountains, whose lofty summits, white with eternal 

 snows, reach far above the clouds — the birth-place of the glacier 

 and the avalanche — is that province of Italy which has been 

 often called the garden of Europe. Its inhabitants are farmers, 

 and very few farms contain more than seventy-five acres ; yet 

 the best authority asserts that these small farms bring more to 

 market than the large ones, and that there is no country in the 

 world which can dispose of so large a portion of its productions 

 as Piedmont. True, the soil is rich, deep, if you please, alluvial. 

 The climate is moist, and the situation of the land makes it sus- 

 ceptible of being easily submitted to irrigation. After all, the 

 mainspring of this abundant fertility is thorough tillage, which 

 consists only with small farms. 



We have not the same natural advantages, but the deficiency 

 can be partially supplied by liberal manuring. Without this, 

 you may plough the soil and sub-soil, eradicate every noxious 

 weed, studiously watch the progress of infant vegetation, and 

 not get half a crop. And not only must we manure liberally, 

 but our manures must be adapted to the different soils and 

 different crops. 



