214 BOAED OF AGRICULTURE. 



everything fine, succulent and nutritious was killed by the 

 fire, and the bushes that had more vitality, sprang up and 

 grew, and grew the stronger because the farmer stopped just 

 there. But having burned your bushes, then with a drag, if it 

 can be used, — if not, with a hoe, — see that that land is seeded 

 with a variety of grass-seeds, dug in or raked in. They will 

 come uj), grow stronger and stronger, and take possession of 

 the soil. If any bushes show themselves afterwards, it is one 

 of the simplest things in the world to pull them up. Thus 

 you can clear your pastures of bushes almost without expense, 

 because you can do it when the help on the farm is not other- 

 wise engaged, and the result will be in time what you desire ; 

 your land will be covered with fine, nutritious grass. 



These are all the thoughts which occur to my mind. What 

 are you going to do about it? That seems- to be the impor- 

 tant question. That is the whole story, — what will the farm- 

 ers of Massachusetts do about it? We know enough to-day, 

 gentlemen, although we do not know but little, yet we know 

 enough to-day to make our fields more fertile, and to make 

 them bear better crops, and more in the aggregate than they bear 

 now. There are some men in the community who are great 

 friends of the Agricultural College and agricultural education, 

 who are great friends of science, and who seem to be standing 

 with their hands in their pockets waiting/or science to work 

 out the miracle to which President Clark alluded this fore- 

 noon in relation to the renovation of the sterile soils of Massa- 

 chusetts. They really expect that science is .going to work 

 wonders for us, and they are waiting for that good day of the 

 millennium to come when they can simply sit in their homes, 

 and by shaking the wand of science over their farms, they 

 shall bear the best of crops and in the greatest quantity. I 

 see such men occasionally, and they are glorious fellows for 

 the Agricultural College, speak highly of the education there, 

 and expect that really this wonderful thing is to be accom- 

 plished. Now, gentlemen, they are bound to be disappointed : 

 that thing is never to be done. Science will never point out 

 a royal road, so that you can reap all these glorious advantages 

 while you sit in idleness ; that you may depend upon. After 

 some little examination of this subject, I have come to this 

 conclusion, that science is good for nothing for a man who 



