AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 411 



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AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES 



An Address before the Norfolk Society. 



BY REV. J. M. MERRICK. 



I was somewhat surprised recently by the remark of a farmer, 

 who sneered at agricultural societies, intimating that in his 

 opinion they were little better than collections of quacks, boast- 

 ing also that he had fair crops, although he belonged to no such 

 fraternity. He holds but a moderate rank as a farmer in regard 

 to the extent and thoroughness of his operations. Yet within 

 five or six years his farm has increased in value. He has a new 

 and flourishing orchard, improved stock and enlarged buildings, 

 and exhibits unmistakable evidences of progress. Behold the 

 proofs of his error ! He has caught the spirit he disowns, is 

 borne along by the stream he opposes. He is too intelligent 

 not to profit by the impulse given to his business by men whose 

 efforts he would ridicule. He breathes an atmosphere which 

 they have diffused. In agricultural improvements wealthy 

 amateurs, — call them fancy farmers if you like, — must take 

 the lead. It is fortunate for others that they are willing to do 

 so. By experiments conducted with more or less wisdom, and 

 at great expense, they eventually stand upon a higher level. 

 Through success and failure their general course is onward to 

 superior methods of tillage, to larger crops, to better shaped 

 animals, to more convenient tools ; and, through the agency of 

 the press and the power of sympathy, others share in these 

 results and occupy the same higher position. It is a generous 

 enthusiasm leading to 'noblest benefits. Why does an acre that 

 once yielded forty bushels of corn now yield a hundred ? Why 

 are eight hundred bushels of roots raised upon an acre instead 

 of three hundred ? Why is the average produce of butter 

 nearly doubled ? AVhy do mowing fields yield two tons to the 



