14 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



tions of stock and products of the soil, where the farmers 

 and others interested can attend, and examine the different 

 breeds of cattle and other animals, the different varieties of 

 grain, fruits, and vegetables, and can determine for them- 

 selves which are the best and most desirable to have ; and at 

 no other place can there be found the same convenience for- 

 comparison as at a good agricultural show. These societies 

 were formed and encouraged by the prominent farmers of 

 the county. 



In the development of a better system of agriculture, in 

 the latter part of the last and the first part of the present 

 century, the leading agriculturists of the time felt that there 

 was a necessity for radical changes and improvements in the 

 manajxement of the farm. Under the old methods, the land 

 was fast becoming poorer ; crops were grown at the expense 

 of the soil, almost, I might say, without any compensating 

 return to the land, which was by this treatment being ex- 

 hausted, and, in fact, much of it had become worthless for 

 cropping ; meadows were left undrained ; upland was allowed 

 to run to weeds, the crop not being worth harvesting. Cattle 

 were bred without any attempt, perhaps I should say with- 

 out any intelligent attempt, to improve them, either in size 

 or in milking qualities for the dairy ; and I fear that that is 

 continued to-day to some extent. And then, as a general 

 rule, they were but poorly fed and sheltered in the winter, 

 and, when leaving the barns in the spring for the pastures, 

 were but sorry specimens of what they should have been, 

 either for beef or the dairy. 



Now, I well remember that when I began farming on my 

 own account, in the year 1840, I carried to Boston potatoes 

 in a one-horse market-wagon, and sold them for seventy- 

 five cents a barrel, that I sold butter for twelve or thirteen 

 cents a pound, eggs for eight cents a dozen. At that time 

 the farmers sold their produce mostly at the country stores, 

 or, I should say, exchanged it, taking their pay mostly in 

 store-goods. Now the farmer's produce sells for cash, excejDt 

 milk, on which there is a short time allowed : and this is a 

 decided improvement over the old method of sale. It is true 

 that the farmers of eighty years ago did not have the fine 

 light tools of the present day to work with, and therefore 

 could not accomplish as much good work as at the present 



