EXPEEBIENT IN UNDERDRAINING. 215 



folds his bauds and sits idly by to see science work. Nothing 

 whatever will be accomplished by it. While I believe fully 

 in science, and in the advantages which education can bring 

 to agriculture, I tell you, gentlemen, that the only service 

 (and that is inestimable) that science will ever render to ag- 

 riculture, is that it will direct agricultural labor aright. It 

 will give efficiency and power to every blow struck in agri- 

 culture, because it will be struck with an intelligent purpose. 

 It will teach us what needs to be done and the means by which 

 to accomplish that very thing. But we have got to do the 

 work, after all, and when we Jjre ready to take hold, gentle- 

 men, it seems to me that, guided by what we already know, 

 and ever looking out for new light to be obtained from every 

 source, there can be no question but that, if we apply our 

 attention to it, we can make two blades of grass grow where 

 one orew before, and we can add hundreds of millions of dol- 

 lars to the aggregate value of the agricultural products of the 

 United States. 



The Chairman. In the address to which we have just lis- 

 tened two things are brought very prominently before our 

 minds. The first is, that we should irather all the knowledo^e 

 possible ; and, secondly, that we should practise what we 

 know. There are many topics appertaining to this question 

 of mowing and pasture-lands to be discussed, and I hope you 

 will all be free in the interchange of your opinions upon this 

 subject. The question is now open for general discussion by 

 the members of the Board and any one present who has a word 

 to say upon the question. 



Mr. Allis, of Conway. This subject is one that interests 

 me more particularly than any other that has come before this 

 meeting, and for the reason, perhaps, that reclaiming lands by 

 underdraining has been a specialty with me, in order to pro- 

 duce, from lands which were almost valueless, great crops of 

 grass. You will please to remember that when any man gets 

 up in an assembly like this and makes a statement of his expe- 

 rience, you are to take into account that it is his experience 

 in the particular locality in which he resides, and although 

 this may not agree with the experience of other men in differ- 

 ent parts of the State, you will understand that I am speaking 

 for the vicinity of Franklin County, or Western Massachusetts. 



