326 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



Road Making. — Soils, Grasses, etc. 



In the Middlesex North, at Lowell, the $600 could be 

 expended for a time in illustrating better methods of road 

 making ; while in the Middlesex South, at Framingham, the 

 money might be used for lessons in forestry, and, if you 

 choose, in supplying seeds for forest preservation. 



In the Hampden Society the bounty could be expended in 

 experiments with tobacco, while on the Cape it could be 

 used in work relating to the cranberry. 



How many farmers know the character of the rocks and 

 soils, also the grasses, and their habits of growth? Suppose 

 a school should be called in Concord, to study not philoso- 

 phy, but nature, as exhibited in the rocks and grasses of our 

 fields. Let the instructor be a practical botanist and%geolo- 

 gist, who shall know how to present the subject with a great 

 deal of sense, and sufficient science to make it accurate. 



In some sections the money could still be used for grant- 

 ing premiums upon stock, the Board itself to determine to 

 what class of stock, and how, the premiums should be 

 awarded. 



Sanitation of Milk Farms. — Traveling Schools. 



In the milk sections, which supply milk for the Boston 

 market, the bounty could be used in demonstrating the im- 

 portance of better sanitation in farm barns and buildings, by 

 lectures given on the ground, pointing out diseased cattle, 

 with clinical demonstrations. Let tuberculous cattle be 

 examined, and the difference shown between those diseased 

 and healthy. At another time let the water and drainage of 

 the farm buildings where milk stock is kept be discussed, 

 observing the good features and criticising the bad ones, — 

 in short, giving object-lessons which shall appeal to the eye 

 and the sense of the practical farmer. Upon this subject 

 Governor Hoard of Wisconsin has spoken to the point. He 

 says: " Somebody must be educated; but the business of 

 milk raising is in the hands of farmers and their sons, who 

 cannot all be sent to a special school . Farmers have accus- 

 tomed themselves from childhood to judge by the eye alone. 

 Perhaps I am a little skeptical on this subject, but I believe 



