248 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



XVIII. — Experiments in fermentation and the manufac- 

 ture of spirits. 



XIX. — Examination of and experiments with beer. 



XX. — Culture of the olive (at Rome). 



In the United States, agriculture is our chief interest, 

 feeding not only our own population, but millions beyond 

 our limits. The richness of new lands, filled with the plant- 

 food accumulated since the formation of soils, has made our 

 people careless of scientific agriculture. They are satisfied 

 to rob the soil, and to sell the fertilizing material that is 

 poured from the lavish horn of Western plenty in golden 

 crops, and to see the heritage of posterity transmitted in 

 alien ships beyond seas. In the older States this barbarian 

 system can no longer be followed. 



Nature sets stern limits to such spoliation, and exacts the 

 penalty. Prodigality and depletion are followed by sterility; 

 then care, labor, and scientific knowledge must strive to 

 restore the waste. It is recognized as sound economy for 

 governments to assist the agricultural interest to replace the 

 wealth of the State. Farming is and always will be an ex- 

 perimental pursuit. But the farmer, engrossed with the cares 

 of his daily living, if he had the education and habit of 

 observation, has neither the time nor means to conduct special 

 experiments. Nor is it economy to make thousands of 

 attempts, when one public experiment made by scientific 

 men would suffice for all. 



Connecticut, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Georgia 

 have established experiment stations. New York has ap- 

 propriated forty thousand dollars for the purpose. 



This Commonwealth has an agricultural establishment at 

 Amherst, where buildings, a laboratory, a farm, cattle, and 

 other essentials are already provided. A small annual ap- 

 propriation would be sufiicient to utilize the means already 

 at our disposal ; and the farmers of the Commonwealth con- 

 fidently expect legislation to that end. 



John E. Russell, 



Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture. 

 BosTOK, January, J881. 



