108 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



March 



SECOND LEGISLATIVE AGRICULTUBAL 

 MEETING. 



[Report:>d by John C. Moore, for the N. E. Farmer.] 



Subject for Discussion — The duty of the 

 Oovernment to encourage the development of its 

 industrial resources, especially the improvement 

 of its Agriculture, as being the foundation, of the 

 jirosperily and security of its people. 



The members of this Society met in the Rep- 

 resentatives' Hall on Monday evening at 7 o'clock. 

 The attendance vfas respectable, and included 

 many gentlemen whose practical opinions have 

 been fortified by sage experience in the art and 

 science of farming. His Excellency, Gov. Banks, 

 presided. 



Mr. Flint, the Secretary, reported the names 

 of the following gentlemen as a Committee of 

 Arrangements for the meetings of the Society, 

 and the report was accepted : — Messrs, Bagg and 

 Peck, of the Senate, and Messrs. Miller, of 

 Coleraine, Page, of Brimfield, Sargent, of 

 Newbury, Barrett, of Auburn, and Nash, of 

 Granby. 



Mr. Flint, the Secretary, then read the fol- 

 lowing resolutions as the basis of the evening's 

 discussion : — 



liesolrcd. That it is the duty of every civilized government to 

 encourape the development of its industrial re:!ources, and es 

 pecially the improvement of its Agriculture, as being the true 

 foundation of the prosperity and security of its people. 



liesolri'fl, That the formation of Fanners'' Clubs for the dis- 

 cussion of Agricultural topics, the promotion of A ^rictdtural 

 Libraries for the use of the people, the holding of local or town 

 fairs as auxiliary to the county and State exhibitions, and the 

 collection of Agricultural products and objects illustrating the 

 various departments of the A^aiiual History ot the country, are 

 among the most practical modes ol developing the Agricultural 

 intelligence of the community. 



Gov. Banks, although he said he was unpre- 

 pared for the task, spoke to the resolutions at 

 length, and with great ability. We can only fur- 

 nish a brief epitome of his speech, and those 

 which succeeded it. He argued that it was the 

 duty of the national government to give its pro- 

 tection to the interests of Agriculture, although 

 the extent of that protection was a subject con- 

 cerning which there was much division of opin- 

 ion. The substance of his observations on this 

 particular included the assertion that, in respect 

 to all our material industrial interests, the duty 

 of the government was to protect them to the 

 extent of exacting as much revenue as sufficed 

 for its support, and no more. Regarding the 

 duty of the local government in encouraging the 

 industrial interests of the people. His Excellency 

 thought there could be no question, generally ; 

 but the query arose — Wliat is the best method for 

 their development'} The people of the CommoiV- 

 wealth, he believed, to be willing to sustain and 

 ♦encourage that of Agriculture, as it was with us, 

 as with the States at large, the original universal 

 interest from which all others had to draw re- 

 cruits to fill the avenues made in the profes- 

 sional and mechanical occupations by retirement| 



and death. What did we see in State Street ev- 

 ery day? Men born in Boston, building high 

 the professional and commercial fame of the city ? 

 No ! but men from the country, who came here, 

 not with jaded look and weakened minds — men 

 with the strong, solid frames, of such as breathed 

 the mountain air, and lived by healthy, invigorat- 

 ing employment. And as it was here, so was it 

 everywhere else. In this respect the encourage- 

 ment of agriculture was important. But, in 

 another point of view, a more liberal attention 

 to agriculture was necessary as tending to show 

 what the true wealth of the State really was. 

 We required from time to time to realize what 

 we could do. We ought to know, and how should 

 we manage to inform ourselves ? Only by the 

 accumulation of the products of the State — 

 their aggregation precisely in the way followed 

 by commercial men in regard to the products in 

 which they had a peculiar interest. If the pro- 

 cess showed that we have wants, it also told the 

 manner of their supply, and was useful in this 

 special degree ; if it exhibited the power on our 

 part to export, it showed our strength — that we 

 had the whole world to trade with, and to draw 

 upon for whatever our requirements suggested. 

 If such accretion of products was not also made 

 for the purpose of example, even, improvement 

 would lag behind. Community of example and 

 opinion have ever been the best incentive to the 

 advancement and improvements ; for it had al- 

 ways been found to be the best way to inter- 

 change visits where the results of each year's 

 exchange and labor were brought together, where 

 comparisons could be instituted and valuable sug- 

 gestions taught. No better mode of proceeding 

 could be adopted than that specified in the sec- 

 ond resolution. Bring on, then, our products, 

 and show us what has and what can be done; 

 and, although we may not attain to a perfect or- 

 ganization and superior merit in a day, or even 

 a series of years, we may ultimately reach a posi- 

 tion which, without incentives, we would never 

 have reached. 



His Excellency proceeded to say that he had no 

 idea until last summer of the extent of the agri- 

 cultural interest in the Commonwealth, but he 

 determined that he should place himself in the 

 best position to know. Placing himself at the 

 direction of his friend, Mr. Secretary Flint, his 

 first inquiry was relating to the places and peri- 

 ods where the required information was best at- 

 tainable. But almost every portion of the State 

 had its agricultural exhibition about the same 

 time, and but a few of the whole could be seen by 

 one individual. This certainly was not right, 

 and nothing but failure could proceed from such 

 malarrangements. People must go beyond the 

 limits of their own town, or district, or county. 



