232 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



of a hundred 3'ears ago. Nevertheless if we expect to retain 

 our preeminence as Americans we must create and cultivate a 

 taste for physical labor among the generations which succeed us ; 

 otherwise our adopted citizens will soon rule and lead the laud. 



All men have an instinctive ambition to own land ; and we know 

 moreover that from some mjsterious and not easily defined cause 

 ownership of the soil has a wonderful influence in developing good 

 citizenship, and establishing individual influence and personality. 

 Of course the acquisition of land must be through the accumula- 

 tions of industry, unless by the accident of inheritance ; and the 

 chance of long entailment b}- inheritance, where there is no law of 

 primogeniture, is very small. 



Our citizens of Irish birth have left the leasehold lands of Ire- 

 land, not because they could not pay the mere moiety of rental, 

 but because they want the pleasurable satisfaction of absolute 

 ownership. So they have come to America, and the Bridgets 

 have gone into the kitchens, and the Patricks have gone into the 

 field, and the savings banks of the country have been built up by 

 their deposits. From time to time they establish marriage unions, 

 and draw on the savings banks and buy and build homes ; and in 

 my own town, where in 1842 we had hardly an acre of laud owned 

 by a son of Erin, today we have hundreds of acres of well tilled 

 land and scores of homes owned by these men who are not 

 ashamed to work and who are fast becoming the owners of ouv 

 soil. 



Uuless something is done to inspire and educate the rising and 

 future generations of our young men to a love of the soil and its 

 culture, we shall see the sceptre of power more and more rapidly 

 passing from the hands of the native born and native bred Ameri- 

 cans. 



The key to power is wealth, the key to wealth is agriculture, 

 the key to agriculture is knowledge and industry ; and if the 

 adopted citizen maintains his persistent industry, and the native 

 born finds contentment in idleness, the future of the Republic can 

 be easily read. 



Discussion. 



Rev. A. B. Muzzey was called on by the President, and said that 

 he was fully in accord with the tone of the paper which had been 

 read. Wc must sooner or later wake up to the importance of edu 



