LINX'OLIV SOCIETY. 225 



the land; tlioy scarcely notice tlie value of the beans and 

 pumpkins, the result of the same labor, and seem to forget, 

 entirely, the value of the stalks for fodder, and of the husks 

 for mats, litter and manure; they have made no calculation; 

 as to the benefits of the manure applied, to future crops, and 

 no deduction for the improvement of the soil for its next 

 "WorkiiiQ-. 



Equally unsatisfactory will be the result when inquiry is 

 made in relation to the dairy; farmers will tell you th^ 

 keep so many cows, including heifers, use about so many tons 

 of English, and about so many tons of meadow or swamp ha}^ 

 it costs about so much for pasturing, and from the whole lot 

 they make about so much butter and cheese. By a careful 

 examination it will be seen that they make a very imperfect 

 approximation to the weight of hay consumed, calculate the 

 value of pasturage by common usage rather than by the actual 

 value of the land employed, judge of the quantity of butter and 

 cheese merely by the amount sold, without making a correct 

 account of the milk, butter and cheese consumed in the family. 



Now this system, or rather want of system, prevails to a very 

 great extent in every department of the farmer's operations,^ 

 and the number of farmers is exceedingly small who keep a 

 day book, journal and ledger, in which they accurately enter all 

 the transactions of the farm, keeping a correct account with 

 every department of their operations, charging each with the 

 amount of its expenses, and crediting each with the amount of 

 its income or produce. Such a system is as necessary to the 

 farmer as to those occupied in any other pursuit of life. 



I propose to notice some of the wants of the agriculturist in 

 the State of Maine, and particularly in this county. 



The farmers of this State require a more thorough agricul- 

 tural education. While medical, law, and theological schools 

 are established, a mistaken opinion is prevalent that no partic- 

 ular education is necessary as preparatory to fartning opera-- 

 tions, that any one can be a farmer, provided he can hold a 

 plow, swing a scythe and handle a pitchfork and hoe, and that 

 nothing is necessary to secure a crop but to plow the ground 

 and deposit the seed. It is hardly considered necessary to 

 know what food or nourishment is required to sustain the plani;- 



