10 BOARD OF .AGRICULTURE. 



of the barn or the house. Men who suffered their cattle to run 

 loose in the summer nights, thouglit it necessary to let them 

 run at large very late in the fall, and to stand out exposed to 

 the severest colds of winter "to toughen." Orchards had been 

 planted in many parts of the State, but the fruit was mostly of 

 an inferior quality, and used mainly for the purpose of making 

 cider. 



In the latter part of the last century many left the seaboard 

 and removed to tlie interior, to avoid the inconveniences aris- 

 ing from the difficulties between this country and Great 

 Britain, and other causes. More attention seems, then, to have 

 been paid to agriculture. The population had now become 

 scattered over the whole State, and the whole territory had, 

 in 1790, been incorporated into towns or districts. Men had 

 begun to emigrate to the so-called inexhaustible West ; which at 

 that time, meant Central or Western New York. 



A few public spirited and patriotic men now began to see 

 the necessity of some such associated effort as should excite 

 the public mind to such action as would lead to the develop- 

 ment of the industrial resources of the State. 



Up to this time, no journal devoted to agriculture had been 

 published in America, nor, indeed, to my knowledge, in Eng- 

 land. In the latter country, however, public interest had been 

 aroused, to some extent, by the success of Bakewell, in breed- 

 ing stock, and by the writings of Young and Sir John Sinclair, 

 under whose auspices the Board of Agriculture was estab- 

 lished, in 1793. The Dublin Society had been instituted as 

 early as 1749, and though it had but little influence at first, it 

 had contributed largely to the prosperity of that part of the 

 kingdom, by directing attention to this field of investigation. 

 The Highland Society of Scotland was formed in 1784, and 

 incorporated in 1787. These facts are mentioned to show that 

 this most important interest began to assert its claims nearly 

 at the same time in Great Britain and America. 



The Massachusetts Society for the Promotion of Agriculture 

 was established in 1792. It was followed by a similar society 

 in New York, incorporated the next year, 1793, having been 

 first formed in 1791. The Philadelphia Society had been 

 established in 1785. Tliese societies were managed by men 



