496 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



and a little modernized perhaps, that, ten to one, you "would 

 call splendid new mansions. And so, my friends, with our old 

 farms. We must look them over, and examine them thorough- 

 ly, and see what is wanting; the old sills, the foundation, 

 rocks, and subsoil there is no fear of. On some places the 

 shingling of vegetable mould has been washed away ; but the 

 paint that makes them fresh and new, the elements that touch 

 them with hues of deep and living green, that give the bright? 

 rich, luxuriant aspect, are wanting. Perhaps a mixture of a 

 little lime and carbon, or ammonia and phosphate, will furbish 

 up the ancient farm, and make the old acres look up bright and 

 shining again. Don't be afraid of modernizing the old house, 

 the old land, making continually new improvements, and re- 

 turning the lost elements of the once virgin soil, that shall 

 bring back to it its early paradise. It is through such exami- 

 nation and analysis of the old soil alone that we can make the 

 proper, necessary, and economical application of manures to 

 our well-worn fields, and reap again luxuriant, bountiful crops. 

 The whole subject of specifics we are driven to pass here, 

 with the single remark, — from which may easily be gathered 

 the whole philosophy and its application, — that every member 

 of the vegetable kingdom has its own peculiar soil, in which it 

 best flourishes. Some belong to the marshes ; some revel in 

 the mountains ; others love the sands ; and still others the rich 

 intervals of the fertile rivers. And while certain elements 

 contribute to the growth and ripening of fruits, others tend 

 only to leaves and wood. The principle is true in regard to 

 vegetables and animals ; it is also true in regard to man. 



