4 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



excuse for neglecting to obtain the greatest advantages from 

 agriculture which lie in our power. I remember hearing an 

 educated man, who managed a farm, many years ago, say that 

 he built liim a new, fine barn, with many improvements, which 

 at that time and place were considered merely whims and 

 crotchets, because he could not afford to build a cheaper and 

 meaner one, and his old one w^ould not serve his purpose any 

 longer ; but I did not tiien catch tlie idea of the true economy 

 which he had anticipated in the change. So agriculture as an 

 art, holding its place high among other arts of civilized life, 

 may not commend itself at once to every one, yet such fairs and 

 annual exhibitions as this, attest to the increasing favor the 

 idea is receiving in the community. AVe discover in the laws 

 which govern the material world, that the circle and the spire 

 pervade all developing objects. The same order which heaves 

 planet and satellite around the central sun, arranges the growth 

 of the stem and the position of the leaves of the smallest or most 

 gigantic plant. The track whicli man progressively follows in 

 his changes from epochs and seasons of development, brings 

 him back to some starting point in his course. The garden in 

 the sacred Scriptures is spoken of as man's first residence, and 

 it is the garden which is his last and highest effort in civilized 

 life. The farm can be a garden full of all manner of trees and 

 herbs good for food and pleasure. Your most productive farm- 

 ing operations cease to wear the aspect of what would have been 

 the case not many years ago. 



A well laid out and carefully cultivated garden ranks among 

 the highest efforts of artistical skill. In it the useful, orna- 

 mental and essential all combine. In one department may be 

 found the forest trees, in another the fruit trees, another the 

 kitchen stuffs, another herbs and perhaps flowers. Every 

 superfluous jjlant is there an unsightly weed, and is carefully 

 extirpated. The first settlers in a new country find the forests 

 usurping the soil. They must be removed to allow the sun's 

 rays to reach the earth. To destroy is the first of the circle, 

 but ere it ends, harmoniously to re-produce will be essential. 

 An agricultural district, pursuing the art of husbandry, takes 

 as much care to preserve a due balance of relations as does the 

 most skilful gardener. It may be found essential to plant again 

 the very products the axe a century before was brought into 



