32 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



paying $100,000 for worthless material in what are consid- 

 ered standard brands of fertilizers ; when we consider the 

 possibilities of irrigation in the development of agriculture 

 and the knowledge already acquired in this branch of science ; 

 when we recognize the developments in veterinary science, 

 and its bearing upon farming methods ; when we consider 

 that this enumeration could be almost indefinitely extended, 

 having a bearing upon a thousand farm practices and form- 

 ing the basis of the practical part of an agricultural education, 

 and resulting in raising the business of farming from one of 

 drudgery to an honorable and self-respecting occupation, — 

 we are led to congratulate those who have become interested 

 in this line, and to assure them that they are in one sense 

 pioneers in what will later engross the mind and receive the 

 attention of a much larger number than at present. It may 

 be true that the science of agriculture has not been reduced 

 to a pedagogical form, as some of our educators claim ; but 

 we are inclined to accept the opinion of the Boston teacher 

 whom we have previously quoted, and assign as the reason 

 the fact that those in charge of the educational affairs of the 

 country have been more interested in conducting them in 

 accordance with a literary standard. 



There is something for the New England farmer to do if 

 there is to be a change for the better. He must recognize 

 the fact more than ever before that land must be manured 

 with brains as well as chemicals, and that a scanty infusion 

 of this compound is laid on New England soil, — truths which 

 at a very heavy cost our community has begun to learn. 



The ideal farmer is a widely accomplished man. Start- 

 ing; with a c;ood general education, he has mastered the 

 practice and science of farming ; knows something of chem- 

 istry, geology, botany ; of veterinary surgery, animal physi- 

 ology, entomology ; of mechanics, carpentry, smith work ; 

 of mensuration, levelling, land surveying ; of farriery and 

 forestry ; of dairying, bees, fruit, poultry ; finally, of accu- 

 rate book-keeping. Often the New England farmer is 

 strangely ignorant of these things. In many instances he 

 pursues the methods of his fathers, covers his land with un- 

 salable crops, refuses scornfully to make a change in accord- 

 ance with the changed conditions, and meets a shrinking 



