442 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



upon certain laws connected with the agencies of nature, like 

 heat, light, electricity, frost. Now unless he is sure that he 

 understands these laws, would he not find it for his advantage 

 to study the science of meteorology, and natural science in 

 general, in their relations to agriculture ? 



Or, to sum up the whole in a few words, does not intelli- 

 gence, knowledge, science, pertaining to agriculture, qualify a 

 man to become a better farmer, just as the knowledge pertain- 

 ing to his profession, qualifies him who has it to be a better 

 manufacturer or a better merchant ? 



Mr. President — What has made Massachusetts what she is 

 in wealth, in physical conveniences and home comforts, in spite 

 of the physical disabilities of a sterile soil and inclement skies ? 

 To borrow our illustration from what many here are familiar 

 with, how does it happen that the members of the legislature 

 whose homes are as far distant as Worcester, can every night en- 

 joy their domestic comforts, and yet every morning, going at rail- 

 road speed, be punctually present in their seats, ready to attend 

 to the first business of the house ? To what is it owing, that 

 in some emergency of business, of joy, or of grief, that they can 

 receive or transmit intelligence, sent along the telegraphic wires 

 with the speed of lightning ? To what is it owing, that for a 

 trifling expense, they can, by means of the Daguerreotype pro- 

 cess, obtain portraits of themselves and their families, faithful- 

 ly drawn by the unerring finger of light — " ofi'spring of God 

 first-born?" To what is it owing, that instead of drinking 

 water, brackish, polluted, it may be, by sewers, or by other 

 sources of impurity, they can drink the pure Cochituate water, 

 and feel themselves stronger under its influence, than " a giant 

 refreshed by wine ?" To what is it owing that instead of 

 lamps and candles, yielding a flickering and uncertain light, just 

 sufficient to make the darkness visible, requiring frequent snuf- 

 fing to remove a fungus or a thief, giving forth the odor and 

 the drippings of whale oil and tallow, they can enjoy the clear 

 shining light of gas, rivalling the sun in its power to turn night 

 into day ? To what is it owing, that instead of linsey-woolsey, 

 home-made woollen, and brown tow cloth, and streaked linen, the 

 princely manufacturers, vying in the beauty of their fabrics 

 with the merchant princes, who can make their selection from 



