REPORTS OF DELEGATES. 187 



but I had no adequate conception of what had been done. If no 

 other benefit accrues from our labors, much may be derived 

 from just reports of what is seen and learned when visiting our 

 neighbors. Farming appears to bo the business of their lives, 

 in which all engage with equal ardor, from the highest to the 

 lowest. Here I met on the farmer's ground honored states- 

 men, eminent civilians, all ready to demonstrate their ability 

 as farmers, and to hold or drive as opportunity presented. This 

 is as it should be. Nothing can be successfully accomplished 

 without effort. This was indeed the holiday of the farmer. 

 Not only the men, but their wives and daughters were there, 

 and with the aid of the fair daughters of Berkshire, what is 

 there that cannot be done ? 



The farmers of Berkshire were among the first to awake to 

 the benefit of associated effort in the management of their 

 farms. It is forty-nine years since they organized as a corpo- 

 rate body, almost the first of the kind in the country ; certainly 

 there were not more than two in this Commonwealth, the 

 Massachusetts Society, embracing .the Boston farmers, and the 

 Association of Middlesex Husbandmen. But the first society 

 of real grit, the true, hard-handed yeomanry of the hill, was 

 formed in 1810 at Berkshire. When once advised of the better 

 mode of doing, they were not the men to go back again. After 

 their plough was once started in the furrow, they never looked 

 back until their work was done. Nor did they turn aside 

 because of a stone here, or a slough there, but they soon found 

 the means of removing the one and of filling the other. Conse- 

 quently they soon approximated to perfection in the use of the 

 fundamental implement of good farming. And judging from 

 the work exhibited in the field on this occasion by more than 

 thirty well-trained teams moving in concert, they still hold 

 the advantage gained by their effort. 



Early did they perceive the benefit to be gained by introducing 

 stock of best quality upon their farms, fully understanding that 

 what occupies one-half of the time of the farmer is only best 

 done when the objects which engross his attention are of the 

 best quality. 



The Durhams are favorites here. Being sturdy and full 

 grown themselves, they naturally thought that animals which 

 quickly grow largest were also best. It may be so. I am not 



