SECRETARY'S REPORT, 47 



of to-day, had to work its way into use by glow degrees, against 

 strong opposition and prejudice, many for a long time declaring 

 that so much iron made it too heavy — it was liable to break,, 

 and to rust, that although it might answer in some particular 

 cases, it would never succeed generally, and that altogether 

 " the old was better." 



Greater progress has been made in scientific agriculture in 

 England, than anv where else, and we have the following testi- 

 mony from an unimpeachable witness as to results : " Upon 

 lands cultivated under the neio methods, the average return 

 amounts to forty-four bushels per acre of wheat, fifty-five bush- 

 els per acre of barley, and sixty-six bnshels per acre of oats,'' 

 and we are told that the average yield of wheat, under all 

 methods throughout the United Kingdom, is twenty-eight bush- 

 els per acre. When we compare European agriculture with our 

 own, it should be always borne in mind, that they cultivate old 

 land, very old, cropped perhaps for a thousand years, perhaps 

 for more, for they have not our opportunity, after plundering the 

 soil of its elements of fertility, by cropping freely, and making 

 stingy returns or none at all, to run away and repeat the same 

 process upon the virgin soil of the great West, and tell what a 

 good state Maine is to emigrate from. Nor will we and our 

 children always be able to pursue this practice. It is an un- 

 doubted fact, that a large portion of the soil of the United 

 States, is in process of rapid deterioration in its powers of 

 production, and something must be done, sometime, or some- 

 ho^v, to check it, or famine will stare us in the face. Besides^ 

 there is no need of it. We do not say that the modes of cul- 

 tivation found best in England, may precisely suit our case, but 

 we do say, that our soil and climate and all our facilities for prO' 

 duction, are as good as theirs, and what has been done there, 

 can be done here. Question science carefully, apply her teach- 

 ings to practice faithfully, and our farms may increase ste-adily 

 in productiveness so long as the world stands, — the maximum 

 yield of an acre is not known yet, nor even scarcely dreamed oL 



The fact is, the sweat of the brow is not the only requisite to 

 good farming. The sweat of the brain is fully as productive. 

 Not that science is ever to be a substitute for hard work, but 

 let the hard work accomplish the greatest results. The ques' 



