58 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



we turn from it with new light and courage for the pursuit of 

 our calling. Levi Bartlett, writing from Warner, N. H., Dr. 

 Holmes, in his lifetime making his weekly record in a quiet 

 town in Maine, furnish that kind of knowledge which, gathered 

 from the experience of every surrounding farm, is made useful 

 to all farmers. What a treatise on sheep-husbandry might be 

 written by sitting at the fireside or roaming over the pastures 

 of Vermont farmers, and taking notes of their experiences and 

 labors in the business which they have brought to such perfec- 

 tion ! What funds of information upon the cultivation of crops, 

 the management of orchards, the use of manures, the conduct 

 of the dairy, lie concealed in the farmhouses along these valleys 

 and hillsides ! The practical teacher and the truly scientific 

 explorer know this. And the great naturalist of America recog- 

 nizes its trutli, when, with constant and unwearied toil he gath- 

 ered a long array of facts from the breeders and exhibitors of 

 the remarkable collection of animals at Springfield a fevy years 

 since, and stored them away as valuable material for his lectures 

 and investigations daring the coming winter. Agassiz learning 

 of Lang how to breed horses, and of Lathrop how to breed 

 cattle, and of Hammond how to breed sheep, was the greatest 

 tribute of science to practice that has yet been seen, alike signi- 

 ficant of the wisdom and humility of the great savan, and of the 

 sound sense and success of the intelligent farmers. 



I behold in this that rare combination of " practice and sci- 

 ence " which should be tlie desire and motto of every farmer 

 and every farmer's association, and is the foundation of the 

 farmer's best knowledge. Let the example thus set bo followed 

 always and everywhere. Let our scientific teachers learn to 

 respect the practical knowledge of the farmer ; and let the 

 farmer lay aside his jealousy of the learning of the scliools. To 

 this just and proper combination of mental forces, how would 

 the earth unfold her secret, how would the fields rejoice under 

 well directed cultivation, how would the whole animal economy 

 of the farm be developed and improved, how would the whole 

 business of agriculture be brought into subjection to systematic 

 laws, and what was before dark be illumined by the higliest 

 light vouchsafed to man by the great Creator and Preserver of 

 all ! And not this alone. How would the farmer learn to 

 respect his calling, and to feel that the work intrusted to his 



