G08 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



AN EXPERIMENT IN SOCIOLOGY. 



It is interesting to place on record the success of a recent 

 experiment of what may be called practical sociology, as il- 

 lustrated in the experience of an association of Friends, 

 formed in Baltimore shortly after the close of the war, for 

 the purpose of advising and assisting impoverished Friends 

 in the Southern States. The immediate object was to afford 

 physical relief, but as the continuance of physical want can 

 only be prevented by removing the cause, the association 

 wisely connected with their beneficence a system of mental, 

 moral, and religious education. Their particular field of op- 

 erations was in the rural districts of Western North Carolina. 

 In 1867 the association purchased a farm of two hundred 

 acres, at Springfield, between Randolph and Guilford coun- 

 ties, on which they placed, as their superintendent, an experi- 

 enced and enterprising farmer, and furnished him the means 

 of teaching improved agriculture, by exemplifying its proc- 

 esses, and bringing within the reach of the farmers of that 

 region the necessary facilities for entering upon a career of 

 improvement. 



The results of this practically benevolent enterprise have 

 equaled the most sanguine expectations of the association. 

 During the winter following the purchase of the farm many 

 farmers' clubs were organized, nearly four hundred subscrib- 

 ers to various agricultural papers were obtained, and about 

 two tons of clover seed "were distributed at cost. In 1871 

 the superintendent reported that "the leaven is extending 

 from the central farm into very remote regions." Among 

 the evidences of this are noted the greatly increased demand 

 for clover seed. While formerly throughout that region 

 the want of pasture and hay was an insuperable obstacle in 

 the way of keeping stock to any extent, in 1871 ten thou- 

 sand acres had been successfully seeded with clover. Quan- 

 tities of the best Peruvian guano had also been introduced. 

 A second proof of advancement was found in the demand for 

 improved agricultural implements, and " it was observed that 

 into whatever neighborhood one of these machines goes, it 

 immediately becomes a silent orator which successfully 

 pleads for the removal of stumps, the filling of hollows, and 

 the under-draining of wet fields." An excellent assortment 



