20 Boyhood, Early Schooling, and Teaching 



Boston on August 24-25, 1880. In June 1879 Dr. E. Lewis Sturte 

 vant, then of South Framingham, Massachusetts, and editor of 

 Scientific Farmer, had published such a strong " Plea for Agri- 

 cultural Science" that Beai had begun corresponding with several 

 scientists with a view to forming a nation-wide society dedicated 

 to stimulating scientific study in agriculture. At the Rochester, 

 New York, meeting in September of that year of the American 

 Pomological Society, a preliminary organization had been effected, 

 and at the Society's first formal meeting Beal outlined a program 

 designating the objects and directions the Society should follow: 



I. To encourage the formation, cooperation and support of agricultural 



experiment stations. 



II. To try to ascertain what experiments in agriculture are most needed, 



and indicate the methods of conducting them. 



III. To discover and define the best methods for uniform standards in 

 the analysis of soils, fertilizers and vegetable products. 



IV. To discover and define the best methods of stamping out parasites 

 and contagious diseases of all domestic animals. 



V. To endeavor to find the best combination of foods for growing and 



fattening animals in the various parts of our country. 



VI. To make discoveries and extend the application of science to dairying. 



VII. To experiment in fish culture. 



VIII. To investigate insects which are injurious or beneficial in agricul- 

 ture, and discover improved remedies for those which are injurious. 



IX. To learn and point out the best methods for testing each kind of 

 agricultural seed, to ascertain its vitality and purity. 



X. To make investigations in vegetable physiology, especially with refer- 



ence to learning how to keep plants in healthy and productive 

 conditions. To study fungi which infect cultivated plants and point 

 out remedies. 



XI. To advance the subject of improving crops by the selection, cultiva- 

 tion, crossing and hybridizing plants for seed. 



XII. To encourage agricultural surveys in the states and the nation, and 

 to discover improved modes of conducting them. 



XIII. To encourage agricultural education, to encourage and approve 

 good work done by any one in the United States Department of 

 Agriculture. 



XIV. To encourage collecting and improved methods of arranging and 

 presenting statistics in agriculture. 



XV. Finally in every way to encourage and help each other and others 

 who are not members in original research in all that pertains to 

 science in agriculture. -° 



^^ Proc. First, Second and Third Meetings of the Society, ed. by W. J. Beal and 

 L. B. Arnold, 12-13, Syracuse, N. Y., Farmer and Dairyman Print. 1883. 



