26 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



commendation. The Pennsylvania school, combining, as it does, 

 science and practice, is the model school of the country. 



Messrs. Sewall, of the Norfolk Society, and Grout of the 

 Middlesex South Society, also took part in the discussion, the 

 direction of which was mainly in favor of an independent agri- 

 cultural school, disconnected from other colleges in the State. 



The evening was mainly occupied with the following Address 

 by Dr. George B. Loring, on 



AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 



Gentlemen of the Board : — At the last session of the State 

 Board of Agriculture, held in Boston, I had the honor of pro- 

 posing a new order of annual meetings, of which this is the 

 first, convened as the vote declares " for the purposes of busi- 

 ness and discussion." I had previously urged this arrangement 

 before the Board, as some of my predecessors had done, governed 

 by a desire to increase its usefulness, by bringing its delibera- 

 tions immediately before the farmers of different sections of the 

 Commonwealth, and by connecting its action with the best scien- 

 tific knowledge of the country. 1 had learned by constant, and 

 general, and intimate intercourse with the agricultural popula- 

 tion, not only of our own State, but of all New England, that 

 there is an ardent desire among them for information of a prac- 

 tical character, based upon the best scientific principles ; and I 

 felt that this Board could discharge its duty in no way better, 

 than by devoting at least one of its annual meetings for the dif- 

 fusion of such knowledge. I trust that the result of this session 

 will prove that I have not been mistaken in my estimate of the 

 inquiring minds of farmers, or of the willingness of scientific 

 gentlemen to aid us in our work, or of the capacity of the Board 

 to conduct such meetings with intelligence^and energy. If we 

 succeed according to the full measure of our desires, we may do 

 much to promote the cause of agricultural education in the 

 Commonwealth. 



I confess that I was much gratified with the unanimity of the 

 Board in adopting my proposition ; and that I was flattered by 

 the selection of the gentlemen from your body who were to 

 imite with me in arranging a plan for the meetings. They had 

 been foremost among the leaders of agriculture, for more than 

 one generation of men. They were among the first to advocate 



