PRESIDENT HITCHCOCK'S ADDRESS. 169 



Now this is an extreme case ; and if such a soil can be made 

 fertile, I know of none in New England that cannot be made 

 so. True, it requires industry, ingenuity, and perseverance. 

 But this is just what men need for the development of a good 

 character, and for happiness. Providence never conferred a 

 greater blessing upon this nation, than by directing our Pilgrim 

 Fathers to the comparatively barren shores of New England. 

 Had they found an easy and naturally fertile soil here, New 

 England character, in which we so much glory, would never 

 have been developed. It needed a soil, capable, by cultivation, 

 of yielding a good return, but not affording even subsistence 

 without uniting industry and skill. We ought, therefore, to be 

 thankful for the comparative barrenness of our soil, and, instead 

 of envying others uieir naturally richer fields, we ought to be 

 stimulated to make ours as rich as possible by cultivation ; and 

 then, we shall have, what is very seldom acquired in regions 

 that yield almost a spontaneous growth, and what is worth in- 

 finitely more than natural fertility ; I mean industrious and 

 sober habits ; well informed minds ; energy of character ; and 

 a good conscience. Many, I know, expect that they shall trans- 

 plant New England character with ]S.e\v England men, to the 

 fertile valleys of the west and the south. But I greatly fear, 

 that, in a few generations, that character will be so modified by 

 a fertile soil, that it can no longer be distinguished. For the 

 history of man shows, that the brightest exhibitions of human 

 character have been made in regions where nature has done 

 less, but art and industry, and sound moral and religious prin- 

 ciples, more. If, therefore, we wish to increase the moral power 

 of New England, the true way is, to use vigorously all those 

 means, and to patronize those sciences, which tend to improve 

 her soil, and thus increase her population within her own limits. 

 And this, with me, is one of the strongest arguments for doing 

 all we can, to sustain agricultural societies : since they are ac- 

 complishing this work in a most energetic and efficient manner. 



Perhaps science has not thrown more light upon any part of 

 agriculture, than upon that of the nature and operation of ma- 

 nures. It is but a very few years since there was a darkness 

 that might be felt upon this subject. But now, we know the 

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