26 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



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calamity as it at first view appeared. It set men to work, 

 under a mistaken notion, to be sure, but not less salutary 

 because erroneous, of escaping the epidemical scourge by pro- 

 ducing new tubers from seeds. The result has been, the in- 

 troduction to the market of many better and hardier varieties of 

 this esculent. 



An experiment similar to the experiment with the rhubarb 

 seedlings, is perfectly practicable with the seeds of the currant 

 bush, which is now almost universally raised from cuttings. 

 And yet, whoever will gather and sow currant seeds, with or 

 without artificial fertilization, will be quite sure to raise, in 

 three years' time, better bushes, with more upright stems and 

 finer heads, than can be raised by slips in the same time ; and 

 have the chance beside, of getting one or more plants vastly 

 more valuable than the parent stock. For it is a well-estab- 

 lished fact, that high culture is more likely to show itself in 

 the germs which are formed under it, and out of which grow 

 new generations, than in the fruits whicli are only the capsules 

 of the seeds. Experiments of this kind offer all the promise of 

 the [in] famous gift enterprises of our day, in which, it is said, 

 every one gets his money's worth, in the first instance, while 

 the manager, -^dth philanthropic purpose, will, however, give 

 him a chance of getting a farm, a watch, or a paper of pins. 

 But there is one peculiarity in nature's " gift enterprises," you 

 are sure never to be cheated. Somebody else must indorse the 

 others. 



I have thus far limited the statements of agricultural head- 

 work to what may be accounted the manipulations of the craft. 

 But, however interesting and advantageous it may be to add 

 head-work to hand-work in these, such a limitation of the 

 application of the mind's capacity will not open all the mental 

 privileges which belong to the farmer. Gentlemen, it is your 

 place to be very closely in contact with the ways of nature, and 

 out of such a connection with natural phenomena, it would 

 seem as if the farmer might at once, by careful observation and 

 faithful inquiry, derive not only food for reflection, but some- 

 thing to elevate his soul by reverence, to increase his comfort 

 by thrift, and to enlarge his mind by the acquisition of valuable 



