116 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



getting it. My condition is different. I can raise as good 

 a crop of corn on some land I have got as he ; but I can do a 

 good deal better than to raise corn. That is my condition. 

 Of course my condition, being near a large market, is 

 entirely different from that of gentlemen in the back part of 

 the State ; and I can see that the}^ may be warranted in rais- 

 ing corn where I should not be. Mr. Slade, as I think he 

 would tell you if j-ou got him up, cannot afford to raise 

 corn : I know I cannot. 



I must not occupy any more time, because there are a 

 good many gentlemen here who ought to speak. I want to 

 hear from Gov. Boutwcll. 



Hon. George S. Boutwell (of Groton). Mr. President, 

 I am quite incapable of adding any thing of importance to 

 what has been said, and especially incapable of adding any 

 thing to the most excellent lecture to which we have listened 

 this afternoon, — a lecture, I think, of more practical value 

 than any which has been given in the history of our agri- 

 cultural literature in my time. 



I might differ from Dr. Sturtevant on one or two points. 

 I rather agree Avith Mr. Moore as to the inexpediency of 

 either raising weeds in a cornfield, or in allowing them to 

 grow. I have tried both plans ; and the conclusion I have 

 reached is, that it is better to keep the weeds out of the 

 field. They not onlj'- interfere with the growing crop, but 

 they distribute their seeds to bother every future generation 

 that shall occupy the land. It is not only our dut}^ to raise 

 good crops, but also to transmit the lands to those who come 

 after us in a reasonably good condition, because land is not 

 for the benefit of those who occupy it solely, but is held in 

 trust for all the coming generations of men. 



I have been one of those, who, for twenty years, have 

 believed in the expediency of raising corn in Massachusetts, 

 subject, perhaps, to some conditions. If your stock is not of 

 a character to consume the fodder, it may be doubtful 

 whether it is expedient to raise corn. If you have heavy 

 lands, that are expensive in cost, and productive in power, 

 with reference to grass and fruit-trees, it is doubtful Avhcther 

 you can afford to raise corn ; and, if the two conditions 

 co-exist, — inability to use the fodder in the most profitable 

 way, and heavy land the only land that you can employ, — J 



