40 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



work we desire to do by and through the institutes held 

 the coming months. 



Mr. F. H. Appleton of Peabody was called to the chair, 

 and upon taking the chair said : It seems to me that we should 

 take advantage of every opportunity to distribute information 

 for the benefit of our agriculture. I wish the experiment 

 station at Amherst could be taken up and carried about as 

 an object lesson, and that Dr. Goessmann could accompany 

 it to explain and enforce the lesson. Every one who has 

 visited the station realizes the advantage of having him 

 explain the different methods of fertilization and the value 

 of different crops for special purposes. He has experi- 

 mented in these directions, and recommends that we try on 

 our farms certain methods and crops, believing that we will 

 find them useful and valuable in our farming. As members 

 of the Board of Agriculture, we should spread abroad these 

 ideas and advocate them throughout the State. Our insti- 

 tutes provide opportunities for this work, and our instruc- 

 tors and experimenters are ready to assist by lectures and 

 discussions at these meetings. The list of speakers and 

 subjects prepared by our secretary contains material on 

 most subjects of interest to Massachusetts farmers, and the 

 agricultural societies can select from it lecturers for their 

 institutes, and have such subjects discussed as may be most 

 useful and interesting for the farmers in their localities. 



It has always seemed to me, as the lecturer has so 

 admirably shown us, that agriculture might be incorporated 

 into the course of instruction in our common schools. The 

 mind may be trained by the study of agricultural subjects 

 as well as in any other way. I renieniber bringing home 

 from England some little books that were used there in the 

 elementary study of agriculture. They were much on the 

 plan of our Sunday-school books, — the question and then 

 the answer. It seems to me that wc might well have in our 

 schools various lines of work, such as entomology, chem- 

 istry, botany, horticulture, etc., which would be valuable 

 in disciplining the mind and would also be of much advan- 

 tage in the pursuit of agriculture. 



Mr. C. B. Lyman (of Southampton). I believe it is a 

 great mistake that our boys and girls have nothing in their 



