•0 Discourse on Agriculture. xxxi 



selected library. Agriculture should be the leading sub- 

 ject. Selections from the best writers on Husbandry might 

 be introduced, as school books, to make early impressions on 

 young minds. Other subjects may be interspersed in those 

 libraries, to entice our farmers and theirfamilies to read; 

 and thus conquer their antipathy to what they, contemptu- 

 ously, call book-farming. Premiums for excelling, and 

 honorary notices, would rouse and reward a spirit of emula- 

 tion. All subjects of difference, especially on political ques- 

 tions, should be avoided ; and agriculture be considered the 

 rallying point of good citizenship. 



As one proof of the utility of such institutions, with great 

 pleasure, I mention the Berkshire Agricultural Society at Pits- 

 field, in Massachusetts. I have been informed by intelligent 

 persons, who have seen the results and witnessed their pro- 

 ceedings, that they have in a short period, by premiums, ex- 

 citing a spirit of emulation and a desire to gain a knowledge 

 of practical husbandrtj ; breeding of domestic animals ; improv- 

 ing and neatly cultivating farms ; increasing in quantity, quali- 

 ty and workmanship, household manufactures, raising the clean- 

 est and best crops, actually viewed and examined by committees 

 making; progresses for that purpose; introduced a style of 

 agricultural improvement, uncommon and highly exemplary. 

 And this, at an expense raised by annual subscription, bear- 

 ing a small proportion to the value of the extensive advanta- 

 ges accruing from it. Annual displays of premiums, and, 

 when practicable, the subjects of them, a procession, and pub- 

 lic distribution of the rewards, preceded and concluded by re- 

 ligious exercises, agreeably to the laudable habits of that peo- 

 ple, captivate, and invite competition ; and accelerate the so- 

 lid and evident prosperity of the country. 



I have mentioned this society, because it is formed in the 

 most western and remote county of that ancient state. Other 

 highly respectable societies in the eastern quarter of our 

 union are too well known to require any notice or eulogy, 

 from me. 



I consider the insensibility to the magnitude of the subject, 

 to be the greatest obstacle in the way of advancement, which 



