No. 4.] NEW ENGLAND AGRICULTURE. 87 



All this only emphasizes the iniportance of recognition of 

 that class which must ever feed the world, and, more than 

 this, be the hope and stay of the nation. 



My second proposition is not so self-evident, yet upon 

 the recognition of its truth hangs the future of the industry. 



Cast your eye over the field, and tell me where there is 

 another industry which thrives save by the destruction of 

 natui'al forces and ai>:ents. 



Your great manufacturing towns and cities have been built 

 and are sustained out of the forests, coal, granite, ore and 

 traffic therein. Wealth is flowing into these centres, but it is 

 at the expense of nature. Individuals thrive while the coun- 

 try loses. Our giant pulp and paper mills, turning out two 

 hundred and fifty tons of paper, a train load, daily, are eating 

 their way through the forests of Maine Avith terrible rapidity ; 

 and so it is everywhere, save that he who co-operates with 

 nature in the growing of her varied products finds a willing 

 partner, ready to unlock inexhaustible stores of fertility for 

 future crops in response to his intelligent invitation. The 

 larger the harvest the greater the possibilities for another. 

 There is here no drain, no loss, but an ever-increasing ratio 

 of gain. Permanent wealth is insured a nation onl}^ through 

 an aggressive agriculture. The greater the demands intelli- 

 gently made upon the soil the greater the response, and 

 that response only opens the door for possibilities heretofore 

 unknown. 



The day will come when the forests will be depleted, the 

 ore exhausted, the coal burned and these varied industries 

 silent ; ])ut down through all the cycles of the future the 

 hills and valleys of this State will yield an increasing har- 

 vest to him who unlocks the secrets hid in the bosom of 

 Mother Earth and intelligently asks her co-operation in his 

 labors. 



Agriculture, of all the industries, alone conserves the per- 

 manent wealth of a people, and is the one industry worthy 

 the most critical study and closest adoption by the student 

 of the future. 



Rapidly are we passing from simple to more complex 

 relations, and the hum of machinery and whirr of the electric 



