DAVID HENSHAW'S ADDRESS. 223 



May not our nurseries and orchards be extended, and new 

 varieties of fruits be introduced, and all our lands be more highly- 

 cultivated, with increased profit to the husbandman ? Are not 

 the sewers and drains of our towns often suffered to run to waste, 

 when thousands of acres might be fertilized by their contents ; 

 and are not hundreds of tons of oil-cake, bones and ashes, annu- 

 ally shipped from the county, "to enrich distant shores, which 

 could be used profitably at home? These are questions which 

 demand the consideration of the Middlesex farmer. 



If he can solve these questions aright ; if he can justly ap- 

 preciate and avail himself of his position; if he will endeavor to 

 improve it, instead of complaining of the competition of those 

 who can best furnish what he cannot well supply ; if he possesses 

 that generous spirit which delights to see others prosper, while 

 he prospers himself, a Middlesex farm offers a suitable field for 

 his exertions. 



Fallacies in regard to Labor, and Drains on Labor. 



{Extracts from an Address by Hon. David Henshaw, at the last Fair of the 

 Worcester County Agricultural Society.] 



Great fallacies have, at different periods of the world's his- 

 tory, pervaded the public mind upon various subjects. Among 

 the most marked of the present day is, perhaps, that which 

 seems to have been cherished, and probably is yet by a very 

 large number of respectable, intelligent persons, in regard to 

 labor. Labor seems to have been looked upon by this class of 

 persons, in theory at least, as the object of life, instead of its 

 means and condition. Practically, however, in most cases, they 

 repudiate their own apparent theory, by using various means to 

 avoid labor. 



Labor in itself is an evil. It is the sentence pronounced on 

 man for his primeval disobedience. " In the sweat of thy face 

 shalt thou eat bread," is the sentence as recorded in Holy Writ. 

 Labor is not then the object, but the means and condition, of 



