208 WORCESTER SOCIETY. 



propriate influence on the public mind. Wealth is still to ex- 

 change bank stock for neat stock, city rents for country farms, 

 and become as much interested in hooks o{ pedigree as m. factory 

 ledgers. Legislative agricultural meetings are still needed, to 

 show the community the true importance of the farmer's calling. 

 Not one of all the appliances which have tended to awaken 

 present interest in the arts of the plough, can be spared from the 

 array of means requisite to secure a still deeper interest. Their 

 full power demands the lapse of centuries for developement. 

 And all other means within our reach will increase the in- 

 fluence of those which are now employed. Progress must be 

 the watchword of the farmer, or he will soon fall into the rear. 

 If in his anxiety " not to remove the old landmarks," he takes 

 care to do all things as his father did, — the children will take 

 care as soon as they come of age, to quit the homestead and 

 the farmer's toil. New England cradles inspire souls with an 

 energy which cannot rest contented without " seeing things 

 improvey The spirit of " '76 " is in our young men. They 

 have no revolutionary struggle to bear. Presidential elections 

 occur but once in four years. There is little to stir up their 

 souls and give play to their talents in the good old round of 

 chopping, planting, haying, harvesting, and then chopping again. 

 Under that system they tire, and look abroad for clerkships, 

 trades, or El-Dorado's in California. But let their ambition 

 cling to the plough, the dairy, the nursery, the fold, the stable, 

 the sty, or even the fowl-yard, and it can find full scope — and 

 they will probably remain farmers. 



In order to secure such a result, we must labor more to reach 

 the masses. New discoveries in agriculture, like heat, are slow 

 in their downward progress. It is many a year before a new 

 plough, or a new crop can be generally appreciated, as commu- 

 nity is now organized. There is too wide a distinction be- 

 tween your genteel wealthy farmer, and the icorking farmer. 

 Yet it is to the latter that we look for the largest proportion of 

 our produce. He must be interested in the advancement of 

 agriculture, or all the eflforts of others will be vain. This class 

 constitute the " bone and muscle " of our community. The 



