1859. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



109 



to see what they have not been accustomed to see 

 at home. They ought to have opportunity to see 

 the best products of the State aggregated, and 

 then they would be ready to exclaim — "Why is 

 this ? What cattle and products I see here ! 

 Why is it that I have never heard of such be- 

 fore ?" Of course men thus surprised would be 

 very apt to inquire how these superior animals 

 and products were cultivated and perfected — 

 glean lessons of value in the answers — and hence 

 the value of the example, which never could have 

 been had through a merely local exhibition. As 

 exhibitions of what we have in Massachusetts, 

 they are insufficient, for they furnish no idea 

 of what we can or may do ; and as this defect 

 constituted a great evil, its correction should 

 be kept for a moment out of sight. No oppor- 

 tunity was furnished at meetings for discus- 

 sion — although there were very fine speeches 

 made — excellent anecdotes related, and small talk 

 plentiful. The least instruction in respect to any- 

 thing is found in an after-dinner speech, for in 

 them there is just a glimpse at practical matters. 

 And so one might go from table to table — from 

 pen to pen — and solid information invariably 

 keeps well aloof. But by the very nature of 

 their gatherings, farmers require instruction. — 

 They have a previous knowledge of whatever is 

 worthy in their own localities, and they do not 

 require to have it repeated. But example and 

 discussion are both ; therefore, let useless prac- 

 tices be abandoned, and clubs be formed and dis- 

 cussions take place all the year through, and the 

 result would turn out good. To spend one day 

 or two per annum in sober trifling, never would 

 be of any value. The interest of the State de- 

 manded that a better system should be inaug- 

 urated — a more advanced and profitable cultiva- 

 tion of the soil — and to efFtct this end, discus- 

 sions such as were recommended in the resolu- 

 tion would be highly beneficial. The State al- 

 ready gave some §13,000 per annum for the en- 

 couragement of Agriculture, and was probably 

 ready to be more liberal, in the shape, it might 

 be, of employing agents conversant with rural 

 affairs, to visit the several localities, and teach 

 farmers the most improved manner of enlarging 

 their products ; and in this connection it would 

 be well to institute such clubs as the second reso- 

 lution specified, that these teachings could be dis- 

 cussed and their value applied in practice. It 

 would ultimate in a much greater benefit to the 

 farming interests than the present system of lo- 

 cal shows, and at the same, or very little more 

 expense. County exhibitions might be retained 

 with some degree of profit if their meetings could 

 be distributed over the districts ; but, periodical- 

 ly, the people should be called together to see 

 what the State could do ; for the farmer's pros- 



perity was emphatically bound to that of the 

 Commonwealth, and whatever he did to improve 

 his own interests, in similar degree did he con- 

 tribute to those pertaining to the general wel- 

 fare. These observations. His Excellency said, 

 in conclusion, were thrown out without any pre- 

 paration, and he hoped the discussion would have 

 such attention from the meeting as to elicit the 

 most reliable and safe opinions. 



Simon Brown, editor of the N. E. Farmer, 

 was called on by His Excellency to speak. 



He said the question before the meeting was 

 one which had occupied his thoughts for many 

 years, although he doubted his competency to lay 

 his views respecting it before the audience in so 

 clear a manner as he could wish. He proposed 

 to confine his observations to the subject of the 

 second resolution, which related to the State. 

 Massachusetts stood high among her sister States 

 in point of education, morals, arts, sciences and 

 agriculture. Her institutions were of the most 

 liberal and enlightened character, and were 

 everywhere copied because of their perfection ; 

 her laws were approved on the same grounds, 

 and no section of the union was oftener looked 

 up to and copied as an example, than Massachu- 

 setts. It would be strange, then, if she should 

 be found to have neglected any one of the promi- 

 nent interests of the people ; but it was other- 

 wise with her, for she had done everything to 

 promote their welfare. Glance over her territory, 

 and it would be found that her charities recog- 

 nized every citizen within her limits — that those 

 who were lowest, and who had the least care from 

 those who ought to provide for them, are never 

 forgotten or neglected. She had made ample 

 provision for the alleviation of the unfortunate 

 and the suffering. Look at her alms-houses ! How 

 many are there ? Not only her own citizens, but 

 people from almost every nation in the earth. 

 Could such a State neglect any one of her inter- 

 ests? Decidedly not! Bounties have been in 

 turn offered by her to everything which needed 

 protection. The County Agricultural Societies 

 receive $12,000 from her per annum, and in past 

 times she has spent much money in their behalf. 

 Buth^d her generosity always been properly ap- 

 preciated, and her kindness acknowledged ? They 

 were not? Some of the counties were endowed 

 with as many as four societies, receiving, several- 

 ly, bounties amounting to $400 and $G00 annual- 

 ly, and what had been the conduct of some to- 

 ward this liberality ? If a farmer raised a pair of 

 fine oxen to which a county prize was assigned, 

 the State required of him a specific statement 

 how he had accomplished it, so that his skill and 

 mode of practice should be imparted to every 

 other citizen of the State. And this ought to 

 end the whole matter between them — the farmer 



