124 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



for which I was offered as they lay on the earth 

 where they grew seven dollars. I did nut accept 

 the offer, for they were worth more money. Some 

 straw or old hay placed around your bed will pre- 

 vent the radiation or loss of heat. C. Jewett, 



ELEVENTH AGHICULTiniAL MEETING 



At the State House, March 25th, 1851. 



Hon. Marshall P. Wilder in the Chair, — Subject, 

 ^^Agricultural Education, conti?iuedJ' 



Col. Wilder made some remarks on the impor- 

 tance of science in agriculture, as it had greatly 

 aided other arts. He inquired how this should be 

 done. The plan of agricultural schools of Europe, 

 though not perfect models, will be of advantage in 

 establishing similar institutions in our own country. 

 No country is better adapted than ours to schools of 

 this character. There is only one way to prepare 

 teachers of agriculture, and that is by a school; 

 and there ought to be a mother institution to regu- 

 late the whole and furnish teachers. France had 

 made very liberal appropriations for this purpose. 

 As our lands are becoming; exhausted, something 

 should be done to check the evil, or posterity will 

 suffer by our neglect. 



Mr. Cole, of the N. E. Farmer, said that this 

 subject had been discussed for a number of years, 

 and gentlemen of other professions had come for- 

 ward and spoken of the great ignorance of farmers, 

 and the little improvements that there had been 

 made. He contended that farmers were no more 

 ignorant than other professions, and for 20 years 

 past they had made as much advancement in 

 their calling. Our system of jurisprudence was 

 becoming more complicated and expensive. Al- 

 though w^e have a large number of physicians, peo- 

 ple are suffering from disease, and going down to 

 premature graves. If theologians have made ad- 

 vancement for 20 or 50 years past; why is there not 

 less wickedness than formerly 1 Why do not gen- 

 tlemen in these professions make improvements in 

 their own line, instead of reproaching farmers 

 with ignorance 1 Merchants are no better skilled 

 lihan farmers, as they make far more failures. In 

 •some branches of mechanics great improvements 

 ■have been made; in others not. The sole leather 

 tanned in the country as was the practice 50 years 

 ago, is worth twice as much as that tanned by 

 what is called the improved process, which, instead 

 of an improvement, is only a deception. No class 

 has made more improvement for 20 years than 

 farmers, and as others have had colleges mostly 

 for their advantage, at a great expense to the pub- 

 lic, there should be some method to educate farm- 

 ers for their peculiar professions. But the establish- 

 ment of a school for the purpose of originating and 

 establishing facts will be a slow process, and it 

 will be many years before the school reaches that 

 stage of improvement already known to our best 



farmers; and many more years before the improve- 

 ments will be taught and disseminated; there are 

 among our most intelligent farmers a great deal of 

 valuable information — many important facts which 

 make up the science of practical farming. The 

 speaker suggested as a plan that four or five of our 

 best practical farmers, of long experience, whose 

 hands were familiar with farming implements, 

 should be appointed as a Board or Institute, who 

 should spend a year, or more if necessary, in col- 

 lecting valuable facts, and the best practice in ag- 

 riculture, testing doubtful subjects themselves, and 

 by others who would aid them, and settling as far 

 as possible uncertain questions; and then have the 

 results of their labors published, and the work used 

 as an occasional reading book in the common 

 schools, that the best system of practical farming 

 in our own country might be scattered broad-cast 

 and go into every family in the State. This would 

 be a short way of making a great improvement at 

 little expense. In addition there should be a text 

 book containing the elements of chemistry, geolo- 

 gy, botany, and other natural sciences appertaining 

 to agriculture, to be read in our schools, from which 

 boys would learn so that they could understand 

 works on these scienes. 



Rev. Mr. Sanger acknowledged that all profes- 

 sions were in the dark. He would have hi addi- 

 tion to the board of practical farmers which the 

 gentlemen had recommended, an able chemist. — 

 [Mr. Cole begged leave to say that he had stated 

 his plan imperfectly. It was his design to recom- 

 mend that a man well-skilled in chemistry, geolo- 

 gy, &c., should he a member of the board.] Mr. 

 Sanger proceeded to show the importance of a 

 chemist to analyze soils, and aid the practical 

 farmers in their investigations. 



Dr. C. T. Jackson spoke of the important aid 

 an agricultural chemist would give. If a barren 

 soil was made fertile, he could show what change 

 it had undergone. He could show what ingredi- 

 ents a crop took from the soil, and what kind of 

 manure was necessary to supply the deficiency; 

 there is a large circle of sciences connected with 

 agriculture. A school must be established on a 

 liberal plan, and well supported, else it will be a 

 failure. Professors need not be employed all the 

 time. They could give a course of lectures, and 

 then attend to their usual business. Most of the 

 instruction in our colleges is given by tutors, not 

 by professors. 



Mr. Jenks of Boston, said that he had occasion 

 to attend to farming, so had a friend; but they 

 could find no place where they could learn the art 

 of farming. Our farmers are deficient in agricul- 

 tural education, and this evil may be remedied by 

 a school, on a plan similar to those in Europe, and 

 on which Prof. Hitchcock has reported. 



Col. Newell, of West Newbury, said that much 

 might be learned from a board of practical farmers, 



