THE FARMER'S WANTS. 343 



and the more readily were their wants supplied. This was a 

 natural consequence. Popular lecturing soon became a sort of 

 profession, and a profitable one too ; and the difficulty is not 

 now to get lecturers, but to select them. Men would qualify 

 themselves very speedily to instruct in these clubs and classes, 

 if they were sure of employment at the low price we have indi- 

 cated. 



But it may be urged that people generally will not take suf- 

 ficient interest in these meetings to attend them. 



In deciding this point we must remember that the present 

 age is remarkable, as compared with the past, for public gather- 

 ings and public lectures. This forms one of the marked fea- 

 tures of the times in whigh we live. The people are becoming 

 far more social in their habits. We see this illustrated in a 

 thousand ways, and hence we may safely infer that popular lec- 

 tures on agriculture, horticulture and kindred topics, could 

 not fail to enlist the interest and secure the attention of the 

 community. 



Besides, if the farmers generally attended with their wives 

 and daughters, as we propose, an audience would never be 

 wanting. Wherever tlie ladies go, there will the other sex be 

 drawn by an attractive force, the precise philosophy of Avhich 

 we may not be able to explain, but the power of which every 

 accurate observer of men and things understands very well. 

 When a lyceumwas established in Boston, the first, I believe, in 

 the State, it was confidently predicted that it would fail for 

 want of an audience ; but the experiment was made on the new 

 plan of inviting ladies to attend all its public meetings, and 

 beginning with an audience of about eighty, it went on increas- 

 ing every year, until tin largest hall in the city would not 

 accommodate the multitudes who wished for admittance. 



If it should be said that ladies will not feel an interest in 

 agricultural subjects, we reply that this will be found a mistake. 

 The geology, the chemistry, and the general philosophy of agri- 

 culture are, in their very nature, vastly interesting to every 

 person who wishes to be intelligent, and all American ladies 

 desire at least as much as that ; besides, many topics will have 

 a direct bearing upon some of their particular duties. 



For example, suppose the art of butter-making, — a very im- 

 portant art, certainly, and one which our senses but too plainly 



