AGRICULTUEE IN NEW ENGLAND. 15 



AGRICULTUEE FROM A :N^EW E^GLANTD 

 STA]S^D-POmT. 



From an Address before the Hampden East Society. 



BY H. P. WAKEFIELD. 



There is a false notion among farmers, and it is repeated 

 till it is believed by many, that " Farming don't pay in New 

 England." This may be true to some extent, but why is it 

 so? Because of the slipshod, slovenly, and consequently ex- 

 peusiv^e, Avay in which it is done. 



The human frame is so constructed that it must be kept in 

 motion, or it will rust out faster than it will wear out. When 

 man was driven from the Garden, and driven he must be if he 

 disobeyed, under the severe reprimand, "In the sweat of thy 

 brow shalt thou eat bread," it was a blessing; in disguise. 

 '^ Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work," is a com- 

 mandment of the decalogue, implying that constant labor is 

 not only a duty but a destiny. 



The New England ftirmer who wrings a meagre but certain 

 sustenance from her rugged soil, envies the inhabitant of 

 more genial climes who resides where physical life can be sus- 

 tained by the labors of two days in seven, forgetful that his 

 intellectual and moral powers are dwarfed, and that he would 

 blush to tell how he is employed the other five. The golden 

 harvests of the West, raised with little labor and garnered by 

 the improved machinery wrought by the genius of the invent- 

 ive Yankee, make him discontented with his more restricted 

 products. He sits down, whines and pines over his destiny, 

 believing other occupations more lucrative, and other situa- 

 tions more desirable. But let me tell you, "Every house has 

 its skeleton," and "Each heart knows its own bitterness." 



The New England farmers have not been true to their own 



