366 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, [ful). Doc. 



grounds and Iniildings, and so come in touch with an object 

 les^n in the various departments, which shoukl be worthy 

 of imitation in successful agriculture. By word and pen 

 arouse a desire to make such visits ; thus educate our 

 farmers to feel that the Agricultural College is the Mecca 

 to which one pilgrimage at least must be made. The 

 more perfect the object lesson, the more enthusiasm will 

 be aroused. 



If important conclusions are reached at the experiment 

 stations, the farm and horticultural departments ser^e their 

 greatest usefulness by putting these same conclusions into 

 practice, sim})lifying methods to the understanding and 

 wants of the practical working farmer. If this be true, 

 then the primary and leading purpose of the horticultural 

 department should be the culture and exhibit of the widest 

 possible range of plants, vegetables and fruits, from wdiich 

 the Massachusetts producer can obtain a livelihood. 



We note with satisfaction the completion of the Durfee 

 plant house, the grapery and the tool house during the past 

 year; beauty and utility are thus happily brought into 

 effect. With these increased facilities we urge that a 

 department affording such valuable instruction and informa- 

 tion in one of the most remunerative branches of Massachu- 

 setts farming be no longer restricted in its development to a 

 self-sustaining basis. By all means let the business side be 

 kept in view ; by no means let it be the controlling purpose. 



The repeated and urgent requests of the efficient and 

 enthusiastic head of this department shoukl be answered 

 favoral)ly. 



The management and cultivation of the lands of the farm 

 seem admira])le and to well meet the hi<2:h standard we have 

 suggested. Thirty-five acres of corn in one plot is an unu- 

 sual sight in New England, — this, too, ui)on lands l)ut re- 

 cently an unproductive swamp. The amounts and kinds of 

 fertilizers used, the variety of seed, the manner of cultivation, 

 the com})arative value of the harvested product, whether as 

 silage or husked corn and stover, are all subjects of live in- 

 terest. The general result that sixty dollars' worth of food 

 was here obtained with thirty dollars' worth of effort, and 



