868 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



to bear on agricultural subjects, and a large amount of infor- 

 mation in relation to the cultivation of the soil might soon be 

 accumulated. 



But time would fail me, should I attempt to explain the 

 various means by which public and associated etTort may be 

 made to act on the progress of agriculture. Individuals are 

 doing much, by example, to elevate and improve the agricul- 

 ture of the Commonwealth, and whether they are, in all 

 respects, strictly practical men or not, they are deserving of 

 lasting remembrance. But there are still some who oppose all 

 the eflbrts of the friends of improvement, and look with con- 

 tempt on all the exertions of our societies and their members, 

 and grow impatient when they find that their expectations are 

 not realized. They forget that every thing Avhich is to be of 

 permanent value requires the slow development of time and 

 thought. I do not suppose any such are here to-day, but if 

 there are, I can only say to them, plod on in the old style, if you 

 will ; but be assured that the longer you plod in the ruts of a 

 former time the deeper you wear them, till at last, when you 

 can no longer see to the right hand nor to the left, the tide of 

 progress will sweep over and bury you beneath its current. Do 

 not complain of the ingratitude of the present and its want of 

 reverence for the past. The old has sometimes opposed the 

 new, but the new would reject the old, only so far as it refuses 

 to do the best it can, to use the light it has rather than grope 

 in utter darkness. 



The present has not lost its reverence for the past, as some 

 suppose. It is only a part of the past that has ceased to com- 

 mand respect. It is that part of it only which was opposed to 

 progress and to knowledge, for that part was unnatural and 

 opposed to itself; for progress is the law of life, and to be opposed 

 to a rational progress is in effect to die and be forgotten. 



If we did not learn the best modes of farming when we were 

 young, it was because there were then no facilities for doing so. 

 We did the best we could and used the light we had. But now 

 when we have these facilities, we will not say to our children, 

 "We did so and so, and you may go and do likewise !" No ! 

 Rather let us tell them to study and comprehend the age in 

 which they live. Tell them they are expected to do better than 

 their fathers did if they can, and to imitate them only when 



