RECLAIMING LAND. 125 



new plans for utilizing the land should l)e placed before the 

 people. 



There must be many cases in the State where tree culture 

 could be profitably practised, and the ornamentation of 

 villao^es, roadsides and home grounds is no small part of 

 such profit. 



Why should not Massachusetts aim to become even more 

 of a garden State than she now is, attracting hither in greater 

 numbers than now those seeking homes in country districts, 

 retired from the more busy centres of trade ; and to make 

 the localities where trade and manufacturing is conducted 

 more beautiful, by fostering and guiding natural growth, so 

 that the scenery which is i)eculiar to the country may sur- 

 round and improve the otfice and workshop, as well as the 

 homes of those who toil with mind and body. 



Our population is gradually increasing, and the West- 

 ern States offer many attractions to our younger men to 

 leave their mother State and establish themselves else- 

 where. 



It becomes our duty, as citizens of Massachusetts, to leave 

 no stone unturned to keep all at home whom we can provide 

 for, and to offer every good and permanent attraction that 

 we are able, in order that the ties which bind to Massachu- 

 setts shall be so strong that even those whose business may 

 call them away shall eventually return, and bring a fair pro- 

 portion of their profits with them. 



The varied geological condition of our State, with its pro- 

 portion of hills and valleys, streams and lakes, affords all 

 that we could ask for, provided the waters are to be kept 

 unpolluted, and the lakes are not to be wastefully drawn 

 upon as sources of water supply. 



We must endeavor to preserve a correct proportion be- 

 tween our wood and stump land, and our tillage and pasture 

 land ; and lands that are not fit for the one use should be 

 allowed to improve by the other. • 



Let me introduce one word here about much of the land 

 that was cleared of woods by our ancestors when they first 

 came to this country ; and I do not quite understand why 

 they cleared for cultivation so much land that would seem to 

 be far better oft* as woodland than in any other condition, 



