HOW CAN BOARDS OF AGRICULTURE HELP THE 



FARMERS? 



BY HON. N. J. BACHELDER, CONCORD, N. H. 



The people of New Hampshire have long been accustomed 

 to look to the old Commonwealth of Massachusetts for ex- 

 amples of statesmanship in the various departments estab- 

 lished and maintained by the State for the development of 

 the interests represented. Especially has this been true in 

 regard to the agricultural department, and we in New 

 Hampshire have availed ourselves on several occasions of 

 the agricultural thought and research as promulgated by 

 your eminent agricultural specialists. 



In view of these facts, we enter upon the discussion of 

 this subject with no little hesitancy, augmented somewhat by 

 the lack of much definite data upon which to base our con- 

 clusions. This latter condition may not be so much a mis- 

 fortune to you as to the speaker, for sometimes originality 

 carries with it a certain amount of interest, even if not 

 entirely practical in its conclusions. In the discussion of 

 this subject we shall refer to the work of no particular 

 board of agriculture nor be guided by any statute law- 

 governing such boards, for we are addressing people who 

 make laws as well as enforce them, and a sufficiently intelli- 

 gent people to recognize the necessity of progress in the 

 machinery that cultivates the mental; as well as the 

 material, resources of the farmer. The methods in vogue 

 at the time of the establishment of boards of agriculture 

 may be no more applicable to the situation to-day than 

 would be the farm machinery in use at that time to the 

 present changed conditions. The fact, however, that the 

 laws governing boards of this character generally confer 



