APPENDIX. lvii 



rather than for prospective usefulness. Sailors are not distinguished 

 for skill in horsemanship, and can hardly be expected to excel in 

 raising or using horses. Still they ought to consider that a young, 

 healthy horse is not kept more easily in good condition, but is vastly 

 more serviceable than one which has seen his best days. The most 

 pressing wants of the farmers of the Vineyard seem to be stout, ac- 

 tive teams and improved agricultural implements. There was not 

 a good pair of farm horses, nor any farm implements requiring the 

 use of a horse, to be seen at the fair. 



The premium for the best ploughing, with either horses or oxen, 

 amounted to ten dollars, and brought ! vto the field a single yoke of 

 oxen. Your delegate found them doing their work in good style, 

 without the inspiriting influence of either competitors or spectators, 

 except two members of the awarding committee, and was informed 

 that this team generally took the first premium. 



The practical difficulty in the way of rapid progress in agriculture 

 in this society, seems to lie in the fact that enterprising young men 

 look rather to the sea than to the land for their support They 

 purpose to live on the farm, but not by farming. Their families 

 must have homes where they hope to enjoy life, when they are not 

 engaged in what seems to them a more agreeable and profitable 

 employment than the cultivation of the soil. Doubtless the ex- 

 citement inseparably connected with the dangers and uncertainties 

 of sea life, and the comparatively large gains sometimes easily and 

 quickly made, are most alluring to the stalwart youth, whose head 

 is filled with the yarns of the old whalers, as they recount their 

 youthful adventures. It would be very surprising if men who had 

 spent many years in the forecastle, should become in after-life am- 

 bitious to excel in farming, and demand more convenient buildings, 

 better stock, teams and tools, more fruits and flowers, than their 

 fathers and neighbors possessed. 



Nevertheless the picture has a brighter side, and there can be 

 little doubt that great progress will be achieved during the next 

 few years. Sea life offers much less pecuniary inducements than in 

 years past, while the influx of summer visitors, who are already 

 numbered by thousands, will decidedly increase the demand for 

 farm and garden produce, and compel more attention to the 

 methods of an enlightened agriculture. 



The thanks of your delegate are due the officers of the society, 

 as well as the past and present members of the Board, who kindly 

 afforded him every facility for the acquisition of valuable knowl- 

 edge, and provided abundantly for his personal comfort. 



W. S. Clark, 



8* 



