ilO ESSAr ON AQRICULTaRAL LIBRARIES. 



is believed that in farming, as in other pursuits, something new and 

 valuable -VYill from time to time be discovered. And it is by enquir- 

 ing minds and enterprising hands, that these discoveries and improve- 

 ments are to be effected. "Why then should not our young farmers 

 have the facilities for the exercise of their ingenuity — the incentivea 

 to rouse them to exertion, and the guides to direct their pathway to 

 excellence ? For this purpose agricultural journals and newspapers 

 are efficient helps ; but they are not the only helps, nor do they 

 treat so fullj^ on the various subjects connected with agriculture, as 

 may often be desired. To the investigation of some of these sub- 

 jects, men competent to the task have devoted the labor of years, 

 and have given to the public the results of their labors in invaluable 

 treatises. Let such treatises be accessible to the young farmer who 

 is disposed to study them, and the good effects will hereafter be wit- 

 nessed in carrying into practice the new and useful suggestions to be 

 gleaned from them. 



It may be objected, secondly, to the establishment of libraries by 

 agricultural societies, that the benefits proposed to be derived from 

 them proceed on the ground that a large part of those already en- 

 gaged in farming will avail themselves of them, while there will be 

 in fact but a comparatively small number. The objection is doubt- 

 less entitled to consideration, but the only way in which it can be 

 properly tested, is by actual experiment. It is the same objection 

 that has been oiten urged against the forming of agricultural socie- 

 ties themselves, where none before existed ; and as often, nearly, as 

 these societies have been organized, the objection has vanished, like 

 mist before the sun. The aversion of experienced farmers to con- 

 sult books on agriculture, is unquestionably most prevalent ; and 

 equally true is it that it will continue to exist so long as no syste- 

 matic effort is attempted to overcome it. The best works on agri- 

 culture and subjects connected with it, must be placed within their 

 easy reach, and they invited to make a free use of them. Our own 

 Commonwealth has done something te the accomplishment of this 

 object, by causing reports on some of these subjects to be prepared 

 by competent hands and distributed throughout her boundaries. 

 And yet how small a proportion of her farmers have ever examined 

 one of the most valuable of these reports, the report, by Dr. Har- 

 ris, on the Insects of Massachusetts injurious to vegetation ? Is it 

 not in part because it has never found its way into their hands ? 



