22 BOARD Of AGRICULTURE. 



Nell. Can the keeping of domestic fowls be made profitable? 

 If so, what kinds are best, and what is the best treatment and method 

 of using their manure? Messrs. Rice, Russ and Tucker. 



No. 12. Can the cultivation of the small fruits be made profita- 

 ble? If so, what varieties are best, and what is the best mode of 

 culture? Messrs. Noyes, Dill and Lancaster. 



No. 13. By what means can the settlement of the new and fertile 

 soils of Maine be best secured? Messrs. Stevens, Cushman and 

 Dill. 



No. 14. What breeds and classes of horses are most deserving 

 attention and encouragement in Maine, and what is the best mode 

 of rearing and training them ? jNIessrs. Tucker, Davis and Wasson. 



Mr. Chamberlain subsequently reported on the first Topic, as fol- 

 lows : 



" To what extent and by what means can labor saving machinery 

 and improved implements be most advantageously introduced? 



This topic, in the minds of your committee, is so intimately con- 

 nected with the whole subject of husbandry, if not underlying its 

 whole successful prosecution, as to invite a wide range of thought in 

 its consideration ; and if in our hasty treatment of the subject, we 

 have found it easier to deviate somewhat from the direct line of sight, 

 we hope to be pardoned for circumlocution, if we succeed in coming 

 to the text in the end. 



Taking a view from our present stand-point, we find the circum- 

 stances attending the American farmer, are to a certain extent pecu- 

 liar to the nation, and distinctive from that of older and more densely 

 peopled countries. So long as we have cheap fertile lands, inviting 

 the husbandman to enter upon and enjoy, so long will the wages of 

 labor be high compared with products. 



Manufactures are affected alike with the farm. This condition of 

 things has tended to stimulate the inventive genius of our people to 

 substitute machinery for the bone and sinew of human organism. 

 In the department of manufactures, this substitution has been car- 

 ried very much farther than in the agricultural. This arises in 

 part from the conditions in the case, yet an item in this difference 

 undoubtedly is the difficulty that inventors and makers of improved 

 implements encounter in the apathy so generally prevailing among 

 farmers themselves in relation to adopting such improvements. 



