PLYMOUTH AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 141 



ural products of one region to another, forms a branch of com- 

 merce highly conducive to the prosperity of the whole country. 

 But it is important for us clearly to understand what articles 

 can be cultivated more consistently with personal and social in- 

 terest, than purchased. Purchases of what we might easily 

 obtain with a little labor, though made at the lowest rates, are 

 poverty-producing operations. 



Premiums should present direct and adequate encouragement 

 to the cultivation of all articles suited to soil and climate, and 

 should never be extended, for the sake of variety, to articles 

 which can be produced only by artificial modifications of air and 

 moisture. Opulent horticulturalists may properly gratify their 

 tastes in the culture of exotic plants; but farmers, whose labor 

 is often the chief resource, must not be encouraged to imitate 

 them. Their attention should be primarily and chiefly directed 

 to the substantial life-giving products of the soil, the rotation 

 and apportionment of crops, which, at the same time, will meet 

 social wants and advance personal interest. Let a list of pre- 

 miums, from year to year, wear a sameness of appearance, if it 

 embraces the objects, which ought to be prominent in the views 

 and pursuits of farmers, it is enough — the purpose for which it 

 was made, is accomplished. 



We have offered a succession of premiums for the renovation 

 of swamps, and the conversion of them into English meadows ; 

 extensive attention has been directed to this subject, and the re- 

 sult has been great improvements in the county. Our farmers, 

 it was perceived, had proceeded in these operations somewhat 

 beyond their resources of manure ; and, the last year, it was 

 thought expedient to substitute, for that class of premiums, of- 

 fers for the most judicious and economical management of en- 

 tire farms. These offers seem to have been favorably noticed ; 

 a number of entries have been made, and it is hoped, in 1851, 

 statements will be made, embracing much valuable instruction 

 concerning the management of farms, the comparative value 

 and productiveness of different crops, the alternations best 

 adapted to promote the interests of the cultivator, and keep in 

 action the energies of the soil. 



Only a single subject is this year presented for the considera- 



