14 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTUKE. 



supply of hay is by no means equal to the increasing demand ; 

 and the price it commands in the market is often entirely out 

 of proportion to that of other articles of food for animals. 

 Hay-farms must be a modern agricultural invention, and will 

 be as soon as capital and industry are carefully turned in that 

 direction. 



But is it a misfortune that the asrriculture of New Eno;land 

 is changing its character, and adapting itself to the present 

 condition of our industry and population? The people of 

 New Ensrland have not been in the habit of adherins: to old 

 associations and models of business in such a wav as to 

 "grasp their ruin in their bliss." As their towns have in- 

 creased in number and population, they have gathered into 

 and aljout them, — some engaged in the occupation to which 

 the town was especially devoted, and some attending to the 

 accessories of that occupation, — the traffic, the agriculture, the 

 transportation which go with it. In doing this, they have 

 carried with them all that enterprise and industry which gave 

 our purely rural towns their character and prosperity. They 

 have not only taken the places of trust and responsibility, 

 with which a thronged and busy community abounds, but 

 they have also surrounded these communities with progres- 

 sive forming. Many men have left the remoter regions for 

 the professions, for service in counting-rooms and on rail- 

 roads and in manufactories ; but many have also left the 

 farming of those regions for the more careful, intricate and 

 profital)le work of tilling the land for specific purposes. And 

 not without their reward. For you cannot show me a more 

 prosperous class in the community than those devoted to 

 special ftirming in its many and diverse branches. So far as 

 this work has already gone, the result is worthy of all admira- 

 tion. The skill and energy which it requires have stimulated 

 all the faculties which attend the most active pursuits in life. 

 The agricultural mind of the community has never been more 

 thoroughly roused, nor more ready for investigation than now. 

 It is not all idle talk, — this discussion of agricultural topics. 

 The public appeals in behalf of this industry are not mere 

 declamation. The establishment of schools for agricultural 

 instruction are not all matters of mere fancy. The organiza- 

 tion of agricultural societies is not solely an amusement. An 



