188 BOAED OF AGRICULTURE. 



it indeed certain that the law of self-preservation would not 

 justify some of the Eastern exclusiveuess, and prohibit the 

 exportation of agricultural products, except to a very lim- 

 ited extent. Can any one give a good reason why America 

 should be am])itious to feed all the rest of the world at the 

 expense of our posterity, to whom we are to leave exhausted 

 soils ? 



The question may naturally arise, Has the climate of New 

 England changed during the two hundred and fifty odd years 

 since its first settlement ? Without presuming to answer the 

 question, a few suggestions may be made having a bearing 

 on its discussion. 



In regard to the droughts which are said to have occurred 

 during the first one hundred years of the colony, proofs of 

 which are supposed to be furnished l)y the number of days 

 appointed for public prayer for rain, it must ])e remembered 

 that the early settlers had few cattle and hence little man- 

 ure, that their ploughing was shallow, and that they were 

 accustomed to the moist climate of England ; and it may 

 be added in this connection that they cherished a strong 

 faith in a special Providence, and hence a few days of hot, 

 dry weather, that would scarce excite a remark with us, 

 might fill their minds with fearful forebodings, and prompt 

 them to fasting and prayer as the most available method of 

 getting rain. Experience has taught us a more reliable 

 remedy against drought in deep cultivation and high man- 

 uring, and hence the less frequent call for the special inter- 

 position of Divine Providence. 



Again, it is now conceded that New England in 1620 was 

 not the unbroken forest it is popularly supposed to have 

 been. Forest fires kindled by lightning or otherwise had 

 raged fiercely, destroying the timber ; and we learn from 

 history that the first settlers in many towns were attracted 

 thereto by the ' ' rich and extensive meadows which furnished 

 abundant and most nutritious grass and hay for their cattle." 

 In an address before your body last winter, by Rev. Joseph 

 Temple, it was stated that Sudbury and Sherborn owe their 

 early settlement to that cause. 



For the last fifty or sixty years, during which reliable 

 records of rain-fall have been kept, no decided change is 



