NEW ENGLAND FARM-LIFE. 11 



ADVANTAGES OF NEW ENGLAND FAKM- 



LIFE. 



From an Address before the Franklin Agricultural Society. 



BY L. F. MELLEN. 



It is evident that a wise providence directed our Pilgrim 

 Fathers, as tillers of the soil, to land on the rocky coasts of 

 New England, selecting the then most unpromising part of 

 the New World for their future homes, that by faithful industry, 

 combined with moral principles, they might establish model 

 homes that should thereafter be represented in their descend- 

 ants. Had the Pilgrims landed upon the banks of the Missis- 

 sippi, these hills would never have been dotted with churches, 

 school-houses, and homes, and a race of men, partaking of 

 the hardy character of New England, would never have been 

 born to preserve the Republic and christianize the world. 

 New England, with its variety and fertility of soil and health- 

 fulness of its climate, gave the Pilgrims and their descendants 

 an advantage which, in comparison with other sections of the 

 United States, was important. These advantages, it can be 

 fairly claimed, it still maintains. 



In the report of the Massachusetts Board of Health for 

 1875, statements are made, that the value of its farm products 

 is greater, both per farm and per acre, in this State, than any 

 other in the Union, outside of New England. The nearness 

 of the farm to the market is one reason given for this remark- 

 able fact. This is not the only blessing, for the same report 

 says, in regard to life and health, the fanners of Massachu- 

 setts live, on an average, about sixty-five years, which is 

 nearly fourteen years beyond the average life. The luxury 



