138 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



March 



to do with politics in its higher and proper sense, 

 but in the lower and meaner one, nothing what- 

 ever. Let any one refer to Noah Webster's DIct 

 tionary, and they would be convinced of this. Last 

 year a bureau of agriculture would have satisfied 

 gentlemen ,|jbut that day is gone by ; what is want- 

 ed now is a full department, with a full Cabinet 

 Minister at its head. All the Presidents of the 

 United States have recommended such a depart- 

 ment, and the time had come to establish it. Ue 

 hoped the meeting would be unanimous in its vote 

 on this subject. 



Mr. French, of Massachusetts, said he was one 

 of those who would have been once satisfied with 

 a Bureau, but he now called for a Department, 

 and he proceeded to advocate a Department, as 

 proposed by Mr. Calvert. 



[While Mr. F. was speaking, the President of the United 

 States and the Secretary of the Interior entered the room, 

 when the members rose to their feet, and so remained until 

 the President was seated.] 



Professor !M\pes said his friend from RIaryland 

 had stated the outline. Had he gone into detail, 

 the fact that four-fifths of the people were allied 

 to agriculture would be made more strongly to ap- 

 pear. In some districts of the United States one 

 hundred bushels of shelled corn to the acre were 

 raised, but the average was only thirty bushels. 



This last proportion ought to be and could be 

 greatly increased, and the land restored to fertility. 

 In the State of New York twelve and a half bush- 

 els of wheat per acre was the average ; formerly 

 it was thirty. Ohio once gave an average of thir- 

 ty-fiye ; she had now sunk to fifteen. To restore 

 the decreasing fertility and wealth of our fields all 

 over the Union, was a measure deserving the serious 

 attention of our Government. Therefore let us 

 have a Department. 



Farmers are a busy class ; they have not much 

 time to think or to compare notes with their fel- 

 lows at a distance. Thus improvements did not 

 trtivel fast. A town or a county was often the 

 limiting area of the knowledge of a great improve- 

 ment. !Much knowledge useful to all was thus 

 lost to the generality. For instance, there was 

 the fact that eighteen and a half pounds of cooked 

 corn meal would produce as much meat and mus- 

 cle as fifty pounds uncooked. But farmers would 

 not believe this without endorsement from a known 

 and respectable source. In almost every county 

 in the Union some one man was celebrated for his 

 crops ; but, notwithstanding they were before the 

 eyes of his neighbors, they would not believe him 

 as to his own accounts of his success ; they would 

 ascribe to him some secret plans, or something 

 more than appeared. The farmers, as a class, 

 were incredulous. It was necessary to bring the 

 force of fashion to bear upon them. When men 

 of talent, learning, and wide iulluence lent respon- 

 sibility to statements, farmers would believe, but 

 not till then. 



Much labor was necessary to open the eyes of 

 the people of this country to these things. Hap- 

 pily, within a year or two, we had taken a better 

 view, and the result was, that the improvements 

 for a single year were worth more than the gold 

 returns from California could be in a century. 



At the port of New York, British ships would 

 come and fill their holds, on their return voyage, 

 with American bones, carrying away the chief con- 

 stituent of the fertility of our fields, phosphate of 

 lime. And this helped us to understand why, 

 when our fields were parting with their invaluable 

 constituents, the fields of England had raised their 

 crops from fourteen bushels per acre to fifty-one 

 bushels. Let this be stopped ; let us understand 

 what these things mean ; let our people be put on 

 their guard against these insiduous attacks on our 

 very vitals ; let the Government have a Depart- 

 ment presiding over this branch of our national 

 store, and we shall not be likely long to waste our 

 own strength and vitality by tamely yielding them 

 over toothers. [Applause.] 



The resolution of Mr. Calvert being then put to 

 vote, it was unanimously adopted, as follows : 



Resolved, That Congress be memorialized to estab- 

 lish a Department of the Government, to be called 

 the Department of Agriculture, the head of which 

 Department, when established, shall be a Cabinet 

 officer. 



The report of the nominating committee being 

 nest in order, the officers for the next year were 

 elected by ballot. 



[At this stage tlie President of the United States and Secre- 

 tary of the Interior retired, the members all standing until 

 they had left the room.] 



The following are the gentlemen elected to the 

 respective offices of the ensuing year : — 



PRESIDENT, 



MARSHALL P. WILDER, of Massachusetts. 



VICE PRESIDENTS, 



Ezekiel Holmes, of Maine, 

 G. W. Nesmith, N. H. 

 Frederick Ilolbrook, Vt. 



B. V. French, Mass. 

 Josiah Chapin, R. Island, 

 S. D. Hubbard, Conn. 

 Henry Wager, New York, 

 James .1 Mapes, N. Jersey, 

 Fred. Watts, Pennsylvania, 



C. P. Holcomb, Delaware, 

 W. D. Bowie, Maryland, 

 G. W. P. Custis, Virginia, 

 Henry K. Burgin, N. C. 

 John Witherspoon, S. C. 

 P. M. Nighliiigale, Georgia, 

 Richard Jones, Alabama, 

 Alex. H. Befiues, Miss. 



A. B. Roman, Louisiana, 



Samuel Medary, Ohio, 

 Robert Mallory, Kentucky, 

 M. P. Gentry, Tennessee, 

 Joseph A. Wright, Indiana, 

 S. A. Douglas. Illinois, 

 R. Atchison, Missouri, 

 T. B. Flournoy, Arkansas, 

 J. C. Holmes, Michigan, 



Baker, Florida, 



T. J. Rusk, Texas, 



W. F. Coolbaugh, Iowa, 



A. C. Ingh;ni, Wisconsin, 



Homer. California, 



J. H. Bradley, Dist. Col., 

 S. M. Baird, New Mexico, 

 H. H. Sibley, Minnesota, 

 Joseph Lane, Oregon, 

 Jos. L. Hayes, Utah. 



EXECUTIVE COJDIITTEE, 

 C. B. Calvert, Moses Newell, 



J. A. King, Arthur Watts, 



A. L Ehvyn, Richard Peters. 



J. D. Weston. 



Joseph C. O. Kennedy, Corresponding Secretary. 



W. S. King, of Rhode ix\a.niX, Recording Secretary . 



William Selden, Treasurer. 



Whilst the ballots were being counted, the Vice 

 President of the Society, G. W. P. Custis, Esq., 

 of Arlington, addressed the meeting with great unc- 

 tion and effect, detailing in a most interesting way 



