52 



tlnd comfort of a fanner's home is a subject most wortliy of con- 

 sideration. It -were absurd, of course, to sup])0se tliat all may 

 surround themselves with the comforts, conveniences and enjoy- 

 ments wealth can procure. Few have a larger share of means 

 than daily necessities require ; and many can only with difficulty 

 avoid or escape the embarrassments of debt. Still, the importance 

 of making the place, where life is to be spent and its chief happi- 

 ness found, neat and tasteful in exterior appearance and comfort- 

 able and convenient in interior appointments, cannot be doubted. 

 Far more important is it than the enlargement of one's acres, the 

 increase of his title-deeds or bonds and stocks. Especially is the 

 possession of an attractive and delightful home, offering abundant 

 means of mental improvement and social recreation and enjoyment, 

 to be counted among the best safeguards of youthful virtue and 

 sources of youthful happiness. The associations which cluster 

 around such a home will be strong inducements, also, to the farm- 

 er's sons to continue and be content with the occupation of their 

 father. 



Let the farmer then consider it a duty to provide for his home 

 all the comforts, conveniences and enjoyments he can honestly 

 afford. Let him recognize his obligation to promote the social 

 welfare and strengthen the social ties of his neighborhood. Let 

 him cultivate the earth, not merely to fill his barns and granaries 

 by exhausting its fruitfulness, but to preserve and increase it ; not 

 merely to mak& it yield him food, raiment and shelter, but to 

 adorn it with shade, and fruits, and flowers. Let it furnish him, 

 as it may, with a habitation which shall become more and more 

 attractive to himself and his family as they advance in life, and 

 the thought shall become more and more grateful to him and to 

 them, that they will sleep together, at last, upon its quiet breast. 



In connection with their last examination of Mr. Motley's farm, 

 your Committee visited other places in West Roxbury and its vi- 

 cinity. We were cordially received by the trustees and conducted 

 to several farms, all of which exhibited high cultivation and suc- 

 cessful management, in nearly every department of husbandry. 

 Crops of fruit, grain, hay and vegetables w^ere there, which, for 

 quantity or quality, are seldom to be surpassed in the county. 

 But as some of these farms have already been particularly noticed 

 in former reports, and our space forbids us to enlarge, Ave shall 

 hot speak of them in detail. 



Of one thing, however, observed in this town, we cannot forbear 

 to speak, though it be only to record the fact, for an example to 

 others. We allude to the lively interest and zeal manifested in 

 the welfare of this Society. One of the gentlemen, to whose at- 

 tentions the Committee were particularly indebted, assured us of 

 his purpose to add, this year, — as he had done in former years, — 



