15 



In horticulture and pomology we have laid the foundations well, for 

 great advancements. When we have learned what lands we can profitably 

 devote to the growing of fruit, we shall find that the quality of that crop 

 grown in New England, cannot be surpassed in the United States, and I 

 heard with pride not long since a statement from one of our most intelli- 

 gent Nomologists that, in a recent journey in Europe he found no pear- 

 orchards equal to our own. While we avoid the wholesale fruit-growing 

 of our ancestors, let us advance to a horticultural and profitable culture of 

 the choicest fruits. 



In the cultivation of field crops I have no doubt we shall make great 

 progress. It seems hardly necessary that I should suggest to you any 

 possibility of improvement in this respect. But we should remember that 

 the carrot and onion and turnip and cabbage crops of but a few towns 

 have become famous in the record of agriculture, and that the care and 

 skill displayed in producing them are confined to a very small section of 

 our little, busy, enterprising Commonwealth. The cultivation of the turnip 

 is yet in its infancy among us — the easiest crop which the farmer can raise 

 — the most useful, considering the amount of nourishment it affords to the 

 acre. 1 have no doubt that the business of feeding cattle and sheep could 

 be doubled in profit by devotion to this crop — and that the great mortality 

 which often prevails among the latter would be entirely avoided. In the 

 cultivation of corn and the small grains also, there will undoubtedly be 

 great improvement, and there should be. While Illinois raises 138,000,- 

 000 bushels of corn, and Indiana 92,000,000, and Iowa 40,000,000, and 

 Michigan 15,000,000, and Maryland 14,000,000, and New Jersey 10,000,- 

 000, Massachusetts, with markets at every farmer's door, raises but 

 2,400,000 bushels. Considering the number of cattle which she feeds, and 

 the amount of corn purchased for food by her people, this amount seems 

 small, and should arrest the attention of the farmer. 



In the construction of farm-buildings we are already making great pro- 

 gress. I think the day is gone by, when we must listen to arguments 

 against barn-cellars ; and when it will be deemed sufficient that a farmer 

 should simply erect a two-story house for his family, without regard to its 

 location, or to the care with which the grounds about it should be orna- 

 mented with trees and shrubs. 



With regard to our animals, we are undoubtedly on the road to improve- 

 ment. The charm which has been woven about the old red stock of New 

 England is gradually being broken. Farmers have learned that a good 

 animal is the cheapest, and have turned their attention to the selection of 



