40 HAMPSHIRE, FRANKLIN AND 



beet, a carrot, a cabbage, or a turnip, which is a monster, he 

 will bring it to the fair ; this is well, but half a dozen specimens 

 of these useful roots would be equally so, if of good shape and 

 ordinary size. The former are fit only as food for cattle, the 

 latter add a rich variety to the vegetables for the table. 



In some way, encouragement to do all this should be ex- 

 tended to the farmer. The distribution of six or eight hundred 

 dollars a year ought to make this annual show both interesting 

 and useful. Small premiums should be extensively awarded, 

 and a larger amount should be appropriated to the horticultural 

 exhibition. Riding over the county of Hampshire, the cultiva- 

 tors of fruit will be surprised to see how many naked door- 

 yards are to be found, which, in a few years, might be filled 

 with cherries, pears, peaches, and plums, beautifying the prem- 

 ises, adding profit to the labor, and pleasure to the possessor, in 

 participating with his friends and family in the enjoyment of 

 the best fruit. 



It is often said, by way of objection, that the birds will take 

 the cherries, and the boys will steal the fruit, if it is planted. 

 But we say, cultivate till you supply the birds and the boys 

 too; have a plenty for all, and induce every body to follow 

 your example. Such examples are contagious. If all cultivate, 

 who will there be to steal 1 And who will wish to steal, when 

 he is invited to partake of all he may desire ? In many parts 

 of Europe, so abundant is the fruit, that the traveller is per- 

 mitted to partake freely of what he finds on one side of the 

 road, leaving the other to the proprietors. 



As to the birds, the fee simple of all the minor fruits is given 

 to them by their Heavenly Guardian and Protector, and we 

 ought to be willing to cultivate to halves, seeing that they are 

 so ready to gather their own share. It is very questionable if 

 we are not more indebted to them for the care they take of the 

 worms and insects, than they to tis for the fruits they consume. 

 If so, the pleasure they afford to the eye and the ear are de- 

 lightful gratuities to us, which should induce us to look well to 

 their comfort, and extend to them our protection from wanton 

 cruelty and destruction. 



It has been said, that he who makes two blades of grass 



