110 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 



the art of turning a furrow, and improbable that, at 

 that date, he had ever superintended the laying out of 

 a carrot field, or even the setting of a hedge-row. He 

 therefore did not take the piont of view of Col. 

 Pickering, nor, as a farmer speaking to brother 

 farmers, adopt the admonitory tone of Mr. Quincy. 

 He began thus: 



It is generally admitted that since the establishment 

 of cattle shows in this country, the condition of our 

 agriculture has manifestly improved. Before that 

 time, our husbandmen seemed to want those means of 

 improvement and encouragement to action, which are 

 enjoyed by their fellow citizens engaged in several 

 other pursuits. Instead of living together in large 

 towns, they are scattered over the surface of the coun- 

 try. Instead of having two-thirds of every newspaper 

 filled with advertisements or information relative to 

 their occupation, as is the case with merchants, the 

 most they could promise themselves was that the 

 weight of an enormous vegetable should be faithfully 

 recorded, and the memory of some calf with two heads 

 or six legs should be handed to posterity. They held 

 no conventions and assemblies, like the clergy and 

 physicians; were not brought together, like the 

 lawyers, at the periodical terms of court to take coun- 

 sel with each other, and seemed not to possess, in any 

 way, the means of a rapid comparison and interchange 

 of opinion and feeling. Since the establishment of the 

 cattle shows of the Massachusetts Society for Pro- 

 moting Agriculture, and those of the several county 

 societies, this state of things has been greatly 

 amended, and to a very considerable degree through 

 the agency of these institutions. 



The cultivators of the soil are now brought together. 

 Their agricultural improvements, their superior ani- 

 mals, their implements of husbandry, the products of 



