106 Culmon''s ^Agricultural Addresses. 



sense may be more innocently gratified? They are among the mo?t 

 siiiiple, and at the same time among the cheapest, luxuries in which 

 we can indulge. 



The taste for flowers, every where increasing among us, is an 

 omen for good. Let us adorn our parlors, door-ways, yards, and 

 road-sides witli trees, and shrubs, and tlowers. What a deliiiht do 

 they give to tlie passer-by! ^^"hat favoraliie impressions do they at 

 once excite towar(is those who cultivate them for their own iiratifi- 

 cation, and fin^I, after all, their chief pleasure in the gratification 

 which they atibrtl to others! ^Vhat an atiecting charm, associated 

 as it is with some of the best sentiments of our nature, do they give 

 to the sad dwelling places of the departed and beloved ! 



The moral influences of such embellishments deserve our consid- 

 eration. I do not mean simply the substitution of such refined tastes 

 and pursuits, in ph.ce of tiie gratification of the lower appetites. 

 This is no small matter. But another influence should not be over- 

 looked. 



Every one familiar with human life must be sensible that mere 

 personal neatness and order are themselves securities of virtue. As 

 we cultivate these habits, and in respect to our residences and the 

 things and objects around us, make a study of rendering them or- 

 derly and beautiiul, and of adding to them the highest embellish- 

 ments of art, our own self-respect is gieally increased. Next to 

 religious principle, nothinix operates more than self-respect, as a 

 safe<fuard of virtue and a stitmdant to excellence. 



The direct tendency of all such embellishments in onr grounds 

 and habitations is to multiply the attractions of home, and to strength- 

 en the domestic ties. It is the glory of New England that these 

 precious ties are no where stronger or more sacred. 1 would bind 

 lier children, if jjossible, b}' chains a thousand times more enduring. 

 In all my journeyings into other lands, favored as they may be by 

 the highest advantages of climate and soil, 1 come back to New 

 Ensland with all the enthusiasm of a first love, and a filial afl^eclion, 

 which, if possible, has only gained new strencih from absence. In- 

 deed, there is every thing in her to love and honor. Let us seek to 

 render every spot of her rude territory beautiful. To the eminent 

 picturesqueness of her natural scenery, adding the triumphs of an 

 industrious, and skilful, and tasteful cultivation, every substantial 

 want of our nature will be supj)lied, every refined sentiment of the 

 mind gratified; and the true New England heart will ask no other 

 Eden this side of that better country where flowers bloom with a 

 radiance which never fades, and "one unbounded and eternal spring 

 encircles all." 



Mr. Colman, during the past year, from a feeble state of 

 health, was induced to travel: he visited the West to gain some 

 information relative to the agriculture of that fertile region; 

 but, if we may judge from the remarks which he has frequent- 

 ly thrown out throughout his addresses, and the comparison 

 whicli he has instituted between the agriculture of ?sew Eng- 

 land and the West, we should conclude that he was no friend 

 to emigration; and we believe his views well founded. Agri- 



