110 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



March 



having received the ^rs^j^remiwrn, and the State, 

 as an equivalent for its bounty, a specific state- 

 ment of the manner of producing the article. 

 But it is quite often otherwise ; the information 

 given is frequently incomplete, and the stock, or 

 article receiving the premium, is talcen to other 

 slioics, and premiums again awarded, thus per- 

 petrating a fraud upon the bounty of the State, 

 and cutting off others from the privileges of a 

 fair competition ! These facts are well known — 

 that the same plowman, the same stock, the same 

 old rug, vegetables, grains and implements, after 

 having once received the highest premium at one 

 exhibition, are entered at another and again paid 

 the highest prize ! This is evidently contrary to 

 the intention of the Legislature, a misapplication 

 of its bounty, and certainly not the spirit in which 

 the generosity of the State should be met ; in or- 

 der to prevent such practices in future, the Legis- 

 lature should enact a law that there shotild he only 

 one agricultural society receiving bounty from the 

 puMic funds IN EACH COUNTY in the State. She 

 long ago employed Mr. Colman to make agri- 

 cultural surveys of the counties, and to whose 

 valuable reports we were so much indebted — for 

 sending Prof. Hitchcock abroad at her expense 

 to inspect the agricultural schools there, and 

 show us what we could do at home, if we had the 

 will ; for publishing works on the Fishes, Quad- 

 rupeds, Insects and Geology of the State, each be 

 ing a monument of her liberality and high pur- 

 pose, and for establishing a Board of Agriculture 

 which she still generously sustains. Had she 

 ever been parsimonious ? By no means ; she had 

 done all she ought to do ; we ought to be satis- 

 fied with her liberality, and if we had not made a 

 progress in propotion to its extent, it was our 

 fault, not hers. 



What, then, ought to be done, as things now 

 stood ? Massachusetts should legislate for the 

 farmer as faithfully as she has done for the man- 

 ufacturer. Scope for that duty was ample. Let 

 her, among other things, fix on a mode for the 

 measurement of milk. What is a can of milk ? 

 a myth, a fabulous hydra, w'hich nobody knows 

 or can reasonably pretend to understand. So 

 far as it could be practically described, it was 9^ 

 quarts when the producer was concerned, and 7 

 ■when the buyer became interested, and 10 quarts 

 when resold to city customers ! ! Let us know 

 what a can is, so that those who furnish large 

 quantities of milk per diem for use in the city, 

 may know hotvto sell. In this connection, proper 

 officers should be employed to investigate the 

 quality of milk, and detect its adulteration. One- 

 fourth of it v/ould be found to be Cochituate wa- 

 ter after it came through the hands of the sellers, 

 as could be proved if pains were properly taken. 

 So much for law ; and as for money, none was 



needed from the State beyond the bounties al- 

 ready awarded for agricultural encouragement. 

 If the treasury was wide open, Mr. Brown said, 

 he would not take a dollar to add to that boun- 

 ty. Farmers did not want it in order to obtain the 

 information they need. In respect to agricultu- 

 ral information the best way was to commence at 

 the soil, and educate the farmer thence upwards, 

 so that he might be proud of his products as the 

 mechanic was of his invention, or the sculptor of 

 bis finished marble. Make a man proud of his 

 vocation, and much to ennoble it would be ac- 

 complished. Why was the hall not filled to- 

 night? Because the people do not care for 

 farming, although they all acknowledge it the 

 organic element in the general prosperity. Ir 

 this were a discussion of some political party, 

 these seats would be crowded, and the speakers 

 cheered with audible approbation. These vacant 

 seats are so many records of the indifference of 

 the community with regard to agriculture as an 

 occupation, and of the importance of instituting 

 a series of meetings and discussions among the 

 people themselves, to aid them in obtaining a bet- 

 ter knowledge of the practical operations of the 

 farm, and of the elementary principles that are 

 indispensable in its profitable pursuits. The per- 

 son who wrote the article in the Atlantic Monthly, 

 which has created so much comment, was right 

 in his estimate of some farmers ; but he made a 

 mistake in constituting a general rule for the 

 exceptions he had too truly before him. The 

 fault lies mainly with the farmer that his calling 

 is thought ungenteel ; he is content to hear and 

 profit not — to listen perpetually to others and 

 produce nothing mental himself. 



Now what is wanted, is simply that the farmer 

 should understand his business — that he should 

 know how to do what he undo takes — and that he 

 should endeavor to make his son understand it 

 as well. He had no objection to Colleges for in- 

 struction in the scientific principles of agriculture, 

 for the investigation of theories, or for any good 

 purposes which they may subserve, but our first 

 effort, the efFoit of the present moment, must be, 

 to begin wi'h the simplest elements, and teach 

 them in various portions of each county in con- 

 nection with the true principles of the practical 

 operations of the farm. If a college were already 

 in operation, he knew of no young men ready to 

 enter it, merely because they had enjoyed no op- 

 portunity to qualify themselves for such a posi- 

 tion. Who had taught them, and where? On 

 the contrary, we should begin at the lower round 

 of the ladder, and climb progressively and surely 

 to the top. This object would be effected if far- 

 mers only loved their occupation. They would 

 cherish it, and talk of it earnestly, and men would 

 listen to them and be taught to profit by their 



