18 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 



results had followed from like endeavors of recent date in 

 foreign lands, but they had also the discouragements 

 which usually attend such work at the start in the inertia 

 of conservatism of that moss-grown sort that prefers the 

 old ways. The mass of farmers of that period lacked the 

 quick intelligence that success in their occupation re- 

 quires. Probably the instruction of the common schools 

 had been but a feeble affair during the preceding seven- 

 teen years. But had all been disposed to read and 

 experiment there were no guides and no text books. 

 Neither in this country or Great Britain, in 1792, had any 

 newspaper or magazine devoted to agriculture been issued, 

 and as respects the latter country there is the best author- 

 ity for saying, that " the first systematic work on agricul- 

 ture that really advanced the art " did not appear till 

 1805. 



Progress was slow in the society's enterprise at first. 

 In the rural tavern talk the members were held to be 

 mere " theoretical farmers," in contrast with the only 

 desirable sort, the "practical farmers;" and it was not 

 long before the more trenchant term of " gentlemen far- 

 mers," was applied to the innovators. Some of the early 

 publications of the Society were condemned as containing 

 articles il above the capacity of common farmers." Even 

 as late as the date of the first public exhibition, or 

 " cattle fair," of the society one in this frame of mind 

 complimented the managers of the ploughing match upon 

 " the speed of their oxen," the sarcasm being in a level- 

 ling down of the competition to the then accepted opinion 

 as to the utility of horse racing. 



To these various criticisms the officers of the Society 

 made reply in their publications from time to time, but, 

 conscious that nothing on their part justified these taunts 

 they did not answer in a like spirit. Indeed, in an official 

 paper of 1799, the mildness and candor of the declaration 

 are such that the case is almost stated in the terms of the 

 adverse party. The document says : 



