STATE AID TO DAIRY INSTRUCTION. 9 



to an extent unknown elsewhere. Wherever great excellence in 

 butter productions has been won, this control is an essential. Slowly 

 the idea of technical education for farmers began to disseminate, 

 and very early in the sixties liberal provision was made for it in the 

 United States. At this time, however, the country was struggling 

 with its period of reconstruction. Boj's and young men had grown 

 up in the New England homes, weary and half sick of farms which 

 refused to yield the same crops as in earlier days, and from this 

 time forth your agriculture has been face to face with a double 

 warfare against the allurements of the railroad agent and real estate 

 men of the west, and the many seductions of eastern cities. 



Within the last ten vears, the fruits of the agricultural colleges 

 and experiment stations have become more manifest, and western 

 men have vied with their eastern brothers in perfecting the equip- 

 ment of these educational institutions. The eastern farmer meets 

 the finer products of manufacturing skill from the west in his 

 own markets. The older men of the State understand that west- 

 ward journeys bring no relief. There, too much pioneer effort is 

 needed to establish the same home life which prevails here. The 

 pioneer must wait for his markets, which may be long in coming ; 

 and then, after years of hardship, he realizes that the brother who 

 remained on the farm, to apply the principles of science taught in 

 the college and institute, has, after all, made life more enjoyable 

 than he. 



The restless ambition of our American citizenship, and the active 

 competition which it engenders, forces every man to make the best 

 of his talents and resources. To assist him in the strife, the State 

 legislature has long provided for his educational needs. The great 

 improvements in modern dairying, stimulated by conventions and 

 State exhibitions of dairy products, have quickened and intensified 

 the desire of every section of the country to excel, and to retain 

 their own local maikets if they could not export, or send goods to 

 other Slates. The money invested in the State by State people is 

 much more promising of fruitful returns than the millions spent on 

 western railroads and mortgages. The shrinkage in the value of 

 the great Southwestern road should be a le&son to New England 

 men, that the greatest need is the duty which lies nearest home. 



If the people of New England are to retain their love of home and 

 wish to cherish the memory of their already historic past, her states- 

 men and farmers must see that the occupations and industries which 



