132 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



body the facts which exists now among farmers, 

 and arrange them for the benefit of the communi- 

 ty at large. Thrift, he said, was the invariable at- 

 tendant upon knowledge, not of scientific knowl- 

 edge alone, or of practical knowledge alone; but 

 of both combined. It was the duty, therefore, of 

 the Legislature to encourage this thrift by spread- 

 ing knowledge among agriculturists. 



Mr. Nash, President of the Hampshire Society, 

 believed that common sense and experience were 

 of the first necessity, and to these science would 

 lend the most valuable assistance. He did not be- 

 lieve that practical farmers could become distin- 

 guished chemists. But there are principles in the 

 sciences of zoology, of animal physiology, &c, 

 which any person may acquire readily and apply 

 in his every day experience. Such a knowledge 

 may be obtained in a very short time — if the stu- 

 dent, be he the farmer's son or the farmer himself, is 

 directed to the right point. He would recommend 

 a course of study from which advantages might be 

 received at once. In these requests t<j the Legis- 

 lature he would advise the friends of this cause to 

 ask for a small sum to try the experiment, and 

 then if "their works did not praise them," they 

 would ask for no more. He thought that more 

 than ten dollars might be saved in each one of the 

 100,000 barn-yards in this State, by knowledge of 

 a proper management of the manure. Even at one 

 dollar, $100,000 will be saved to the State. The 

 proposed grant of the Legislature would hasten this 

 result, at least, several years, and even if it 

 hastened it but one year, still as much or more 

 would be saved as is asked for the friends of this 

 cause. He said that by an application of new treat- 

 ment to a piece of land which he purchased, from 

 eight acres, he had increased the crop of grass 

 from three tons to fifteen tons. He hoped the 

 means of extending this knowledge would be grant- 

 ed by the Massachusetts Legislature the present 

 session. 



The meeting then, on motion of Mr. Simon 

 Brown, of the New England Farmer, adjourned to 

 7 o'clock. 



EVENING SESSION. 



The meeting was called to order at 7 o'clock. 

 Lieut. Gov. Cusiiman was introduced to the meet- 

 ing, and offered the following resolution — which 

 he sustained in a few interesting and appropriate 

 remarks : — 



Resolved, That the resolution now under consider- 

 ation be adopted, and that the officers of the Board 

 of Agriculture be directed to present the same to the 

 Legislature, and to urge such action by that body as 

 may be thought most expedient to carry into prac- 

 tice the principles contained in said resolution. 



He said the question most important is, what 

 shall be done 1 The resolutions have been ably 

 discussed and the unanimous opinion seems to be 

 that the time has come when agriculture should 

 be exalted and receive from the government that 



attention and aid which is her right. How shall 

 this be done? By the establishment of a Board of 

 Agriculture as indicated in one of the resolutions. 

 Make agriculture one of the departments of the 

 Governmbnt. 



Mr. Clark, President of the Hampshire, Hamp- 

 den and Franklin Society, was called upon. He 

 said the word science had got to be a humbug. 

 Some of the weekly agricultural papers had held 

 this word up as a source of terror to the farmers, 

 threatening them with the loss of their farms. 

 Science is truth. Knowledge is science, and 

 knowledge is power. The man who possesses the 

 most knowledge finds it all useful upon his farm ; 

 the more he knows the more he wants to know. 

 The objections to this subject he believed arose 

 from ignorance, and from those who are willing to 

 abide in their ignorance. Farmers had not ought 

 thus to be taught to break down their own inter- 

 ests. We want more knowledge to prevent the 

 misapplication of labor — and a school is required 

 to impart this knowledge. 



Mr. Daggett, of Bristol county, next spoke, 

 and expressed his gratification at Mr. Nash's re- 

 marks, but thought they did not go far enough. 

 Mr. Nash, he said, showed that the great ma- 

 jority of farmers could not be thoroughly, sci- 

 entifically educated. Is not this, Mr. D. asked, an 

 additional argument why a school should be es- 

 tablished 1 Suppose a school be established with 

 say three hundred and twenty scholars, and after 

 having acquired their education, they distributed 

 themselves through the towns in the Common- 

 wealth, where they put theory and knowledge into 

 practice. Their neighbors around them would 

 copy their example — and thus, by example, would 

 this knowledge be disseminated from town to town 

 throughout the State. Why, he asked, do farm- 

 ers take so little interest in the promotion of this 

 knowledge 1 It is because they do not feel its im- 

 portance. The great object of this school should 

 be to disseminate knowledge throughout the State. 



Mr. S. Sprague, of Duxbury, President of the 

 Plymouth Society, spoke of the pleasure he had 

 experienced at these meetings. The opinion was 

 expressed by farmers from all parts of the Com- 

 monwealth that more agricultural knowledge is 

 needed in our own State ; and this unanimity of 

 opinion strengthened very much, the hands of 

 those engaged in this movement. He believed it 

 cost more to raise a bushel of grain in New Eng- 

 land than in any other country, — owing to the 

 sterility of our soil. Tins disadvantage is to be 

 overcome, — and he believed it could be done by 

 fanners better understanding the duties of their 

 profession. It was difficult to fix upon a plan for 

 extending this education. Different schemes were 

 proposed. He Avas willing to begin with a com- 

 missioner of high scientific attainments, who, if 

 thought advisable, might be summoned by a 



