44 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



they have something by which we can calculate their worth , 

 whereas, if we go into the market and buy the barnyard- 

 manure that is manufactured in or near the large cities, we 

 do not know whether we are getting our money's worth or 

 not. And in applying barnyard-manure, or in attempting 

 to appl)'^ this thing or that thing, to the crop, we are working 

 at random : we do not know exactly what we are doing. 



Adjourned to two o'clock. 



Afternoon Session. 



The Board met at two o'clock ; and the Chairman intro- 

 duced Dr. James R. Nichols of Haverhill, who read the 

 following paper : — 



THE NEW AGRICULTURE. 



BY DE. JAMES E. NICHOLS. 



Science has accomplished so much for practical agriculture 

 during the past third of a century, that, in contrast with 

 former knowledge and former methods, it may be said with 

 great propriety and truthfulness that we have a new agricul- 

 ture. The old agriculture rested upon ignorance, and to 

 some extent upon superstition ; the new, upon science and 

 practical knowledge. It was doubtless discovered in early 

 historic times that plants were stimulated, and their growth 

 promoted, by bringing in contact with them animal excre- 

 ment, and other organic bodies which liad undergone, or 

 were capable of undergoing, putrefactive change. It was 

 also known that irrigation and stirring the soil in some way 

 contributed to the welfare of plants, and beyond these 

 simple facts all was darkness. The Greeks and Romans, 

 within historic periods, knew but little more ; and indeed it 

 may be said, that, up to the commencement of the last 

 century, scarcely an inqviiry, or an attempt at investigation, 

 had been made respecting the mysteries of plant-growth. 

 The old alchemists, by their absurd and empirical labors, 

 reall}^ accomplished something for art and manufactures, but 

 nothing for agriculture. The reason for this is obvious: 

 they were more intent on discovering some method of mak- 



