8 



Saxon race is not, however, to be without discrimination 

 condemned ; for it brought our forefathers to these shores ; 

 it has sent civilizers to the West ; it has extended our 

 nation from ocean to ocean. But a good trait may be ex- 

 aggerated. The longing which possesses some of our pop- 

 ulation for the prairies of the mid-continent or the imagined 

 paradise of southern California, or the orange-growing soil 

 of Florida, needs to be modified by a knowledge of exact 

 facts. Credulity toward the rose-tinted stories of the land- 

 speculators needs no increase in our midst. 



While not attempting to belittle the actual advantages 

 of the South, or the West, or the Pacific slope, it is not a 

 sign of sound sense to believe that New England, including 

 our own section of it, has ceased to be a recipient of Divine 

 favor or an attractive part of our nation. Nature, I 

 believe, is as friendly to its friends in Essex County as in 

 any part of the globe. 



I am not unaware or unmindful of the obstacles against 

 which an Essex County farmer must contend. I recall the 

 potato-bugs and canker worms, the constant need of fertil- 

 izing the soil, the uncertainty of the crops, and the greater 

 uncertainty of the market, and the probability of low 

 prices for farm produce, and the long, cold winters. Yet 

 under sucli disadvantages I believe farming to be on the 

 whole as prosperous here as in any otlier region. I have 

 seen the most thriving prairie farmers in their own homes. 

 I have seen the cornfields and grain fields which are 

 measured not by the acre but by the mile. I have 

 seen in southern Illinois a soil of rich vegetable mold four 

 feet and even six feet deep. But I have not seen one 

 western farmer who yeai's ago emigrated from the East, 

 who has appeared to me to have won from nature a greater 

 success, all things considered, than he might have achieved, 

 by equal venture, enterprise and self-denial in an average 

 New England neighborhood. 



Distance lends not only enchantment but often a deceiv- 



