92 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, 



I regret having been unable to hear the lecture which was 

 delivered here this morning. Had it been possible for me I should 

 not only have come myself, but brought my wife, for she wanted 

 to hear the lecture. Unfortunately, I was under the necessity of 

 being away, and could not hear it. 



I wish to say that I take great interest in agricultural matters, 

 and nothing pleases me' more than to see an interest manifested in 

 this subject generally; and I am 'extremely — I was about to say 

 displeased, and I do not know but I might use the word prop- 

 erly — not to see a much larger number of my neighbors, and of the 

 farmers of this goodly county of Androscoggin here to listen to 

 these discussions, and by their presence to show that they feel a 

 deep interest in this matter, which lies at the very foundation of 

 society. I was reading the other day a book on the Chinese, in 

 which I found an account of the methods by which they sustain 

 a population of four hundred millions and upwards upon a terri- 

 tory no larger than these United States, where we have a popula- 

 tion of but forty millions. I found that they avail themselves of 

 every possible means of enriching their soil and making it produc- 

 tive. I also noted this important fact, which shows how very 

 different the people of China are from our own people in their ap- 

 preciation of the value of agriculture. We are told that the 

 people who take the first rank in China are the literati — the men of 

 letters ; but next to them, and those who receive the greatest 

 respect, are the agriculturists--close up to the throne, as it were. 

 How different it is here ! Look at your Legislatures. Look at 

 the position which farmers hold in the community. Where are 

 they ? At the very bottom of the scale, so to speak, when in truth 

 upon their prosperity depends the prosperity of ajl the otlier in- 

 terests of society. They ought to be the men of the first rank 

 here as well as in China. We want our men of education, we 

 want our men of influence, to be more interested in agriculture, 

 and if they would be so, my word for it, we should never see so 

 sparse an audience and so largelj'^ made up of gentlemen residing 

 out of the immediate vicinity when we hold our agricultural meet- 

 ings. 



Adjourned to two o'clock P. M. 



