State Agricultural Society. 27 



LIBRARY. 



One of the great necessities of the agricultural interests of the State 

 is a general diffusion of agricultural knowledge among our farming com- 

 munities. It is to be regretted that we have not on this coast a public 

 agricultural library, embracing to any extent the many valuable agricul- 

 tural works now extant and to be found in the libraries of the best man- 

 aged and most useful eastern Agricultural Societies. The State at great 

 expense has purchased, and by large annual outlays maintains a library 

 at the State Capitol, mainly devoted to the subjects of legal jurispru- 

 dence and general legal literature, especially for the benefit of the non- 

 producing classes; but this library is of no practical benefit to the 

 industrial classes, nor is it designed or intended to benefit them or to 

 aid in the development of the agricultural or other material industries of 

 the State. 



To secure the general welfare and increase the skill, effectiveness, and 

 practical intelligence of the producing classes, should be among the first 

 objects of an enlightened, popular Government; and in no other way 

 can these objects be so economically and surely secured as by placing 

 within the reach of these classes public libraries well filled with works 

 treating in a practical manner of the several industries in which they 

 are engaged. The State Agricultural Society is the proper custodian of 

 such library, and but for the want of means the Board would long since 

 have provided it. The great need of such library is the daily experience 

 of the officers of the society, as a convenience for reference in answering 

 inquiries constantly coming from the industrial classes. The State 

 should no longer neglect to supply this want, and thus in this respect 

 place the producing classes upon an equal footing with its professional 

 and non-producing citizens. We commend this subject to the attention 

 of the Legislature, hoping it will be pressed more particularly by the 

 representatives of the rural districts, feeling confident that its justice 

 will secure it against any opposition from any quarter. 



