LIFE OF JAMES WADSWORTH. 155 



later years of his life, it took a more extended form, and to the details of mere 

 business he added a series of communications on subjects of literature and sci- 

 ence, in particular relation to his darling scheme of extending and improving the 

 means of popular education. His letters are marked with the precision of the 

 man of business and the pure diction of the scholar, and it is said that they were 

 occasionally extended into well digested essay? on tiie subjects he had so much 

 at heart. Of these, but one has seen the light in a priuicd form. This was a 

 letter on the subject of civilizing the Indians, which appeared in the newspapers 

 of the day. The publication, however, took place without his knowledge, and, 

 had he been consulted, he would probably have refused his assent. The distin- 

 guished statesman to whom it was addressed was, no doubt, of opinion that he 

 had no right to lock up so valuable a communication from the public, on whom 

 it was well calculated to produce a poweriul impression, and that favorable to 

 the mterests of a race which, unless some powerful agency intervene, seems des- 

 tined to destruction. 



We have already spoken, in part, of the manner in which his home farm was 

 conducted. Devoting it chiefly to grazing, the sources from which his stock was 

 derived varied with the progress of settlement. Drawn at first from New-Eng- 

 land, the supplies of young neat-cattle were finally obtained from Ohio, and States 

 still farther west. This, of course, did not preclude the breeding of stock upon 

 his own farm ; and here he manifested a sense of practical utility, by which it 

 would have been well had others, who have devoted large sums to the obtaining 

 of foreign breeds, been influenced. The breed of his native valley of the Con- 

 necticut was that which he preferred, and upon his rich pastures it has attained 

 an excellence which may be envied by those who have resorted to foreign races. 

 It so happens that the stock of the earlier settlers of New-England was, from the 

 fact of all the vessels taking their final departure from the south-western ports 

 of th« mother country, derived from the very county, Devonshire, where the best 

 of the improved breeds of England have their origin. This has been thoroughly 

 acclimatized, and although it may have degenerated in barren soils, and for want 

 of care, the valley of the Connecticut still possesses it, rather improved than fallen 

 from its original good qualities. 



His attention to fine-wooled sheep was governed by similar practical and judi- 

 cious views. He had no share in the mania, under the influence of which Meri- 

 no rams were sought for at the price of thousands of dollars ; but, no sooner did 

 the price fall to reasonable limits, than he became the possessor of the largest 

 flock in the State ; and he did not condemn it to the butcher when the unreason- 

 able expectations of sudden and enormous profits, which others entertained, were 

 proved to be fallacious. 



Besides neat-cattle and sheep, the breeding of mules formed for several years 

 an object of his attention. 



It might have been expected that with such extensive concerns to manage as 

 a land agent and landlord, not to mention the great extent of his own farm, cul- 

 tivation on a small scale could have created but little interest in his breast. But 

 this was not so, for he delighted in directing the culture of his garden, and in 

 propagating the finest descriptions of fruit adapted to the climate, although he 

 eschewed the costly luxury of the forcing-house. 



One peculiarity marks and distmguishes his possessions not only from those of 

 small proprietors, but from those of the greater part of large landholders. This 

 is, the manner in which they are studded with trees, isolated and in clumps, or 



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