18 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



has been wrought equally important. It has taken place in the 

 public mind in regard to the respectability and dignity of the 

 employment. All useful labor is honorable. " 'Tis no sin for 

 a man to labor in his vocation." The educated farmer is quali- 

 fied to take an active part in the political affairs of life. Not 

 long since the heroic and upright reformer, John Bright, in the 

 British House of Commons, fearlessly denounced the English 

 aristocracy and nobility as of all others the most incapable of 

 being intrusted with the duties and responsibilities of govern- 

 ment, no portion of which, said he, can they manage with 

 common ability. Educated] farmers are the right men to be 

 elevated to stations of official trust and honor, because they 

 have gained experience from their practical management of the 

 common affairs of life. I decry no profession. All useful 

 labor is honorable. We are parts of the great whole, and essen- 

 tial to each other. My plea is, that none shall be elevated at 

 the expense of another. 



All reflecting persons admit the importance of our profession, 

 — that it is the basis of all prosperity ; commerce, manufac- 

 tures, the arts, power, wealth, — that the cultivation of the soil 

 leads people out of an aboriginal condition and gradually 

 civilizes man, — establishes family relations, builds up society 

 and creates a desire for the higher cultivation of our moral and 

 mental powers. 



Several things have conspired to awaken a new regard for 

 rural employments, but especially so the attention which the 

 press has given it, the institution of farmers' clubs, and such 

 associations as you are celebrating to-day. It only remains for 

 the farmer to improve his mind as well as his soil to place him 

 in the positions he ought to share with his fellow-men, and lead 

 the country to look to him for a fair proportion of its statesmen 

 and leading men. In order to do this, he must understand the 

 principles of free government, be a fair scholar in the branches 

 of education usually taught in our high schools, be able to write 

 readily on the topics in which he is interested, make his own 

 reports to agricultural societies, and embody his experiments 

 or opinions for publication. He must remember Rousseau's 

 maxim, that " it requires a great deal of philosophy to observe 

 once what may be seen every day." He must be a daily reader 

 of a good newspaper, keep a general knowledge of the progress 



