MR. hazen's address. 19 



fore him ; he sees the infirmities of age waiting to beset him on 

 the way; he loses the animation of hope and sinks into the per- 

 plexed and negligent husbandman. Such doubtless is the his- 

 tory of many a farm and many a farmer, who needed nothing 

 but a systematic beginning to have brought the one early to fer- 

 tility, and the other to independence. 



The proper size of farms has been the subject of much dis- 

 cussion. The opinion that in New England they are too large, 

 seems to be very uniform. The fact thus indicated cannot but be 

 greatly prejudicial to the interests of agriculture ; and the evil 

 would certainly be reformed if the business should be subjected to 

 more accurate calculation. Should a merchant plan his vessel so 

 large, and exhaust so much of his resources on the hull, that he 

 could furnish her with no more sails and rigging than were suited 

 to a much smaller vessel, could only half fill her with freight, and 

 must then send her to sea half victualled and half manned ; or 

 if we should see a whale ship with all her appointments sent on 

 a voyage for mackerel, it would need no argument to convince us 

 of the folly of the projectors. But do not these instances fairly 

 illustrate the conduct of the farmer who persists in holding an 

 extent of land under the forms of cultivation, over which he may 

 indeed make his annual pilgrimages in careful search after the 

 scanty and timid crops ; around and about which the fences are 

 attenuated and stretched until their existence becomes a problem, 

 and whose whole culture, with whatever industry it may be 

 prosecuted by its owner and such aid as his narrow means enable 

 him to obtain, is but a manifestation of the willingness of the 

 spirit and the weakness of the flesh ? Land and wealth are often 

 associated in idea, and it is overlooked that land is only the 

 means of wealth when it is made the source of rent, or when it is 

 made productive. If more is held than is made profitable by its 

 annual rent or produce, the interest of its cost, its fencing and 

 the taxes upon it are charges upon the farmer ; and the price 

 paid for it is so much deducted from the amount of money that 

 he might otherwise employ in the superior cultivation and im- 

 provement of a smaller faru). 



Some of the considerations that should determine the size of 



