232 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Agriculture is capable of infinite development. Both brains 

 and nione}^ can be freely spent on these rugged and most 

 beautiful hills and valleys of Massachusetts, and they will bring 

 returns which shall abundantly reward our confidence in nature. 

 Who that loves his native land is willing to see these farms 

 falling into decay, impoverished and abandoned in some 

 instances ; in others, becoming the heritage of the stout chil- 

 dren of emigrant parents, whose sturdy muscles and unde- 

 veloped minds make little demand of the soil, save as healthy 

 animals, and whose savings are accumulated by the lack of 

 all the hiirher wants ? Yet this seems to be the inevitable 

 tendency of the disposition which seeks to degrade farming, 

 and by the cheerless and dispiriting aspect in which it exhibits 

 itself to the young, to repel them and drive them from the 

 farm. 



If the future of agriculture in New England is to be a 

 bright one ; if farmers are to reap better returns for their 

 labors, while constantly increasing the productive capacity of 

 the soil — ,and this is what we demand, if agriculture is to keep 

 up with the progress of the age, — it must be by raising the 

 standard of man on the farm. 



This, chiefly, must exalt agriculture. With a body of men 

 earnestly engaged in farming, of high culture and public 

 spirit, — men trained to exact observation and intelligent com- 

 parison of data, — we may hope to reach a solution of some of 

 the vexed questions which now retard the progress of scientific 

 farming. To men of this class, financial success, as leading one 

 of the great industries of life, should surely be open, as well 

 as the delights and immunities of rural life. What those 

 attractions and rewards are, we who enjoy them best know, 

 and surely they are not to be underrated. There is a mys- 

 terious sympathy inherent in mankind which draws men to 

 the soil. From Adam down, the tillers of the soil have ever 

 found their toil good. 



What can a man learn of nature ? In her processes we see 

 the inexorable power of law, the mystery of life. In her 

 varying aspects we find solace, encouragement, inspiration, 

 rest. In working with her we join our thread to the Aveb of 

 fate, and God himself keeps the shuttle flying. If any man 

 would see his work prosper in his hands, shall he not guide it 



