14 MR. saltonstai.l's address. 



the pursuit of agriculture, as ours. Nowhere else is 

 such unrestricted locomotive power enjoyed. Here, no 

 laws exist, directly or indirectly, confining men to a 

 particular occupation or place. Industry is in every 

 respect free and unfettered. Agriculture is open to all, 

 and within the reach of all. 



We of Massachusetts should take an especial interest 

 in the object of this society. The founders of New 

 England were from necessity, cultivators of the soil. — 

 " They left their pleasant and plentiful homes in Eng- 

 land, to plant their poor cottages in the wilderness. " — 

 They drew their support from the earth, the common 

 mother of us all — from the soil to which they fled for 

 the enjoyment of civil and religious liberty. She re- 

 quired toil, but gratefully yielded back with interest all 

 that was bestowed upon her. She has nourished and 

 brought us up'^as children The men who achieved our 

 independence — who were they ? Principally farmers. 

 The men, in commemoration of whose gallant exploits 

 their grateful country has erected that sublime monu- 

 ment on Bunker Hill, were farmers — the yeomen of 

 New England. They left the plough in the furrow, and 

 took the old muskets which had before accompanied 

 their fathers to their agricultural labors, and to the field 

 of battle, and marched to the post of duty and of danger. 

 The men who founded the institutions of Massachusetts, 

 who made her what she is — from whom indeed we in- 

 herit almost all that is worth preserving, were our ag- 

 ricultural forefathers. 



There is not beneath the sun another class of men like 

 American farmers. Where else is the land cultivated by 

 those who own it ? Time was when such a class exist- 

 ed in England, but it is nearly extinct, and is known 

 only in story or in song. The agricultural classes there, 

 -now, are the few great landholders, and the laboring 

 peasantry, who have no interest in the soil they culti- 

 vate. Here — he who ploughs the land, turns out his 

 own furrow. He reaps in joy his own harvest. The 

 improvements he makes are his own. He owns the land 

 he cultivates. He knows that another will not reap, 



