124 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



passes around the county, must see that " much land remains 

 to be possessed." The swamps that are now exhahng miasm 

 and death should be producing sustenance for man and beast. 

 Health and thrift alike demand this. In many instances our 

 highways pass through these swamps, and even in a warm sum- 

 mer's evening, the dampness is so great that we involuntarily 

 shudder at the chilly exposure and close our mouths that we 

 may not inhale the seeds of consumption and typhoid fever. 

 Whoever has any of this cold, wet land on his farm, and does 

 not drain it, is exposing the health of himself, his family, and 

 the community. If more drain tile were used, there would be 

 less demand for pills and powders. Dry and pure air gives 

 vitality, not only to man, but to the flocks and herds. Some of 

 the first efforts at drainage in England were made by a farmer 

 who became convinced that his sheep were suffering from disease 

 that originated from his pastures being too wet. Both cattle 

 and sheep, if free to select their grazing and sleeping grounds, 

 choose the sweet herbage and pure air of the hills. Man, less 

 mindful of the dictates of reason than the dumb beasts of their 

 instincts, often locates his house in the neighborhood of low, 

 damp, foggy land which he neglects to drain, and thus make the 

 air more healthy and the soil more productive. We are so 

 thoroughly convinced of the importance of drainage that we put 

 this down as the first step in successful agriculture, and hope 

 future committees will not have to lament that no reclaimed 

 lands were offered for their inspection. 



The apathy on the subject of fruit is not much less than in 

 the matter of wet, unproductive lands, if we may judge from 

 the number of orchards entered for a premium in 1867, as only 

 two apple orchards and one of pears were offered for our inspec- 

 tion. " Good fruit and plenty of it," should be the maxim of 

 every farmer. Fruit seems to have been the staple diet of man 

 while in the Garden of Eden, and is what all crave, especially 

 those living in the temperate and torrid zones. The eagerness 

 with which children seize even immature fruit, proves the inher- 

 ent longing in our natures for the cooling antiseptic and refresh- 

 ing influences which fruit furnishes. With more apples, pears, 

 peaches and grapes, and less meat, our systems would not be 

 strained so constantly to their utmost tension, and we should 

 have less dyspepsia and neuralgia. We can have, and should 



