TRANSACTIONS. 179 



and encourage the raising in greater quantities those that 

 have already been cultivated among us. One of the great- 

 est improvements to be made in New England husbandry 

 will be the raising, in much greater quantities, vegetable* 

 food for animals. The common beet, carrot and parsnip, 

 the turnip, ruta-baga, mangel wurtsel, and above all, the 

 potato, will furnish excellent food for our stock during 

 our long winters. They aflford a wholesome, and at the 

 same time, a clieaper food than hay. The potato, in my 

 judgment, has not been sufficiently appreciated either as a 

 luxury for the table or as food for animals. 



When Sir Walter Raleigh carried the potato from the 

 new to the old world, he conferred on Europe a greater 

 benefit tha^i was ever achieved for it by all the warriors 

 who ever fought, and all the crowned heads who ever 

 reigned there. 



If you would have good animals, you must give them 

 good keeping. Any attempt to improve our stock without 

 improving their keeping, is altogether vain. There never 

 was yet a fine animal raised by any breeder from any 

 blood, upon poor, scanty and miserable fare. And perhaps 

 the best breed of cattle, the breed that gives the best 

 profit to the raiser, requires the best keeping. To feed 

 well is the first principle in. good husbandry. Feed your 

 soil and feed your stock, and neither will prove ungrate- 

 ful. 



Proceed, gentlemen, in your endeavors to accomplish 

 these important and desirable objects. The field for great 

 exertions and great efforts lies before you — a field for gen- 

 erous rivalry, without ill will, and for manly competition 

 without bitterness. Continue your exertions, and you will 

 have the satisfaction and the pleasure of seeing our farms 

 better cultivated, our buildings more commodious, our 

 houses uniting convenience with rural neatness and simple 

 elegance, our stock of various kinds more abundant, of 

 superior quality, and in better condition; our implements 



