406 BOARD OF AGRICULTURJ. 



the club. After the discussion, subjects are offered, and the time 

 and place of meeting an-anged. 



Meetings are usually held once a fortnight, but the rule is not 

 inflexible, and the state of the travelling, and matters of public or 

 private interest, are allowed influence. The moon, too, though 

 not controlling the time of planting or harvesting, is here con- 

 sulted, for her light, though borrowed and cold, cheers and en- 

 lightens the country roads and by-paths. Upon adjournment the 

 formality of the club is over, and an hour is spent in a social way. 

 Some slight entertainment of fruit or nuts, or of the good wife's 

 culinary skill, is presented, and the party breaks up at an early 

 hour. 



By taking the wives and children one element of strength, num- 

 bers, is secured, which would otherwise be wanting in so scattered 

 a community, and a social feeling is promoted. Farmers greatly 

 neglect to cultivate and exercise this faculty, and our rural com- 

 munities are everywhere suffering from this cause. Unless recrea- 

 tion and amusement are furnished to the young folks on the farm 

 and connected with it, they will seek it wherever it can be found. 

 Too many neighborhoods once thriving and populous and deriving 

 their support from the soil, now almost uninhabited, point to some 

 influence as the cause of this decay. It has not been so much be- 

 cause the labors of the farm were distasteful to them, as the lack 

 of social opportunities that has driven so many young men from 

 the farm to other employments and caused so many families to 

 emigrate to other sections where they hoped to secure greater 

 social advantages. 



Sometimes formal papers are presented by some member of the 

 • club, or a lecture is given in some public hall. 



There is no admission fee, or annual tax, and no treasurer. Funds 

 are only raised as wanted for special objects. The distribution of 

 seeds, or cuttings, or plants is conducted in the most informal man- 

 ner. The twenty-fifth anniversary was celebrated in December, 

 1868. There were invited guests from abroad ; thete was a most 

 liberal entertainment and larger gathering than usual, while re- 

 miniscences of tlie past formed a fruitful theme for all the speakers. 



And now surely it is time to look for some fruit. 



The PROGRESS made in the region embraced in this club, in drain- 

 ing and clearing fields, in planting orchards, in the improvement 

 of farm buildings, fences and dwellings, in the stock of the farm 

 and general culture and management, will bear comparison with 



