SECRETARY'S REPORT. 9 



tury there "was not one published in the State, and in 1750 

 there were but four. The circulation of these was confined, 

 for the most part, to the metropolis ; a few copies being sent 

 to clergymen in the country. There were but six in 1770, and 

 one of these was discontinued in June of that year, for want 

 of support. The facilities of travel were so limited that few 

 of the farmers ever went beyond the borders of their own 

 towns, unless it were to market. It will be seen, therefore, 

 that there was no opportunity of cultivating those larger and 

 more generous sentiments which now mark the progress of 

 civilization, and the spread of knowledge and intelligence among 

 the people. Obstinate adherence to prejudice of any kind, is 

 now generally regarded as a mark of ignorance or stupidity. 

 A century ago, the reverse was the case. In many a small 

 country town, a greater degree of intelligence than was pos- 

 sessed by his neighbors, brought down upon the farmer the 

 ridicule of the whole community. If he ventured to make ex- 

 periments, to strike out new paths of practice, and adopt new 

 modes of culture; or if he did not plant just as many acres of 

 corn as his fathers did, and that too in " the old of the moon ; " 

 if he did not sow just as much rye to the acre, use the same 

 number of oxen to plough, and get in his crops on the same 

 day, or hoe as many times as his father and grandfather did ; if, 

 in fine, he did not wear the same homespun dress, and adopt 

 the same religious views and prejudices, he was shunned 

 in company by the old and young, and looked upon as a mero 

 visionary. He knew nothing of a rotation of crops. With lire- 

 places adapted to make the largest quantity of ashes, he had: 

 no idea of their use, and would have sold them for the smallest 

 pittance in money. The use and value of manures was little 

 regarded. Even so late as within the memory of men still 

 li\ang, the barn was sometimes moved away to get it out of the 

 way of heaps of manure, by which it was surrounded, because 

 the owner would not go to the expense of removing these accu- 

 mulations, and put them upon his fields. 



The swine were generally allowed to run at large, the cattle 



were seldom housed or enclosed at night, during the summer 



months, the potato patch often came up to the very door, and 



the litter of the yard seldom left much to admire in the looks 



2 



