22 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



doubt, as having too much of this world's goods, so that the 

 owner does not know wliat to do with it. Tliat is said, 

 though I know nothing about it myself. Such cases are 

 perhaps one in a hundred. But it requires large ability to 

 invest in land and make it profitable . But great success 

 can be attained by those who work their farms themselves 

 and give it the attention it deserves. The present tendency 

 of the farming classes is towards an improved condition. 

 At an}^ rate, it is ver}^ largel}^ so. 



We are here in a Commonwealth that has had a very 

 great history. What we produce in Massachusetts is not 

 half as nmcli by agriculture as we could get in Illinois 

 or Iowa with their capacity for production. We are not 

 great in the quantity of our products, but we are high in the 

 quality of our crops. But there is something better than 

 crops which we produce in Massachusetts. The first thing 

 to be obtained for a State is to have men. If you will raise 

 men in a community, then the people will grow, and show 

 something that is worth having. They will do something 

 which is worthy of talking about. They will create some- 

 thing which will produce some effect upon mankind. They 

 will be of worth in the world. 



We have made some good inventions in Massachusetts. 

 We have not been fortunate enoui>li to invent the wireless 

 telegraph, but we did something about the telephone sys- 

 tem, first and last. There is the sewing machine, — we are 

 entitled to that, — and many other important inventions. 

 The farming industry must keep pace with those inventions 

 relating to agriculture which are important. The Agricul- 

 tural College, which is a part of the State's system of 

 agriculture, ought to find out what is best for the farmers, 

 and it has already shown what the college is good for thus 

 far. That is what it has been doing, I think, with tlie little 

 knowledge that I have of it. It finds out what is good, and 

 commends it to those who will accept it. When the Board 

 of Agriculture was created, I had some notion about Avhat 

 should be done, especially by an agricultural college. That 

 is one of the many cases where something T said did not 

 produce any good effect, though I presume it did not i)ro- 



