XVlll 



and best-informed men in the Commonwealth, not uttered to 

 me, nor with the remotest expectation that it would ever come 

 to my knowledge, — that the survey had already been worth three 

 hundred thousand dollars to the State. It is due to the en- 

 lightened friends of an improved agriculture, both in and out 

 of the Legislature, who proposed and advocated and assisted 

 this measure of a survey, to refer to such a fact as this, 

 when under other circumstances it might seem indecorous. 



It has been a principal object of the survey to call attention 

 to the great subject of agricultural improvement ; to disseminate 

 valuable and practical information ; to induce farmers to ex- 

 amine their condition, the condition of their farms and the ac- 

 tual results of their cultivation, the cost, the expenses and the 

 returns, and to note them with such exactness as may save 

 them from hurtful errors of judgment and practice ; to induce 

 experiments with a view to improvement ; to redeem their waste 

 lands ; to plant productive and ornamental trees ; to improve 

 the races of domestic animals ; to make their own habitations 

 more comfortable ; to attach them to their own homes, by show- 

 ing the capacities and resources of the State; in a word, "to 

 cultivate the soil and the mind ; to lead the farmers to respect 

 their profession and to respect themselves, and to elevate and 

 dignify both, by mental cultivation and by sound morals." 

 How much, in all these respects, has been accomplished, I must 

 submit to the judgment of others ; and no one can immediately 

 ascertain. What has been attempted, in this case, any may 

 learn. Man may sow the seed ; and under the unvarying laws 

 of a just providence, no good labor fails of its reward. The 

 wisest may plant ; the most diligent may water ; the Lord of the 

 Harvest alone can give the increase. 



