SECRETARY'S REPORT. 59 



provement, experiments in draining, subsoil plowing, plowing at 

 exhibitions, for reclaiming waste and wet lands, for manures and 

 experiments with them, for orchards and nurseries, and for other 

 special improvements on the farm, for fruit, dairy and other prod- 

 ucts, for agricultural implements and the encouragement of the 

 mechanic arts. 



The time was when improvement in the animals on the farm was 

 the great desideratum. A realization of the comparative low con- 

 dition of Maine in this regard, the magnitude of the undertaking 

 to secuie a sure and speedy improvement, and through this means 

 to raise the general character of our husbandry, led to associated 

 efforts, and finally to the construction of our agricultural societies. 

 What was a leading object at the outset would naturally remain 

 such till Anglo Saxon perseverance compassed the end. 



Of the paltry sum of $316 paid in the whole State in 1862 for 

 the encouragement of grain and root culture, how large a portion 

 was probably bestowed for preconcerted and carefully conducted 

 experiments aiming at discoveries in general laws, and the estab- 

 lishment of facts for our future guidance ? 



The peculiar and unfortunate condition of affairs in our country, 

 prompts us to put forth new efforts ; and wherever mental or phys- 

 ical force has hitherto laid dormant, every patriotic impulse dic- 

 tates that it shall now be made available for the common weal. 



In whatever channel our agricultural societies may have directed 

 their efforts, with good results, it is foreign to our intention to 

 divert those efforts to the detriment of any special interest. It 

 might seem an unfavorable time to urge any material change from 

 the " mixed husbandry" hitherto prevailing, to that course of prac- 

 tice indicated by the Secretary in his recent reports, whenever 

 new products are proposed and a wider range in practice naturally 

 suggested. 



The State policy in the aid extended to agricultural societies, is 

 a compensating policy. The property of the State — the cash in its 

 treasury — is exchanged through the agency of these societies, for 

 products coming through human brains, in the shape of valuable 

 knowledge, to be applied to the production of material wealth, and 

 ultimately the restoration of the cash to the treasury with large 

 increase. Whether the return be immediate or thrpugh a longer 

 cycle, is not material. We do not question the soundness of 

 the State policy in this regard. Men do possess brains enough. 



