GOOD AT HOLDING BACK. 25 



During the period of the Eevolution ftirm production was 

 brought to a partial stand-still, and, for some years after, it 

 was in a state of extreme depression. It took time to recover 

 from the effects of the struggle. Gradually, however, the 

 importance of some effort to develop and improve the agri- 

 culture of the country was impressed upon the minds of the 

 more intelligent and public-spirited of the people, men, for 

 the most part, who were in advance of their time. The re- 

 sult of their deliberations was the formation of societies for 

 the encouragement of agricultural improvement. 



ORGANIZED EFFORT. 



The South Carolina Agricultural Society was esta])lished in 



1784 ; the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture, in 



1785 ; the New York [city] Society, in 1701 ; the Massachu- 

 setts Society for Promoting Agriculture, in 1792. These were 

 rather city than country institutions. They were very slow 

 in reaching the common people. The average farmer of that 

 day was not up to their standard of thought and observation. 

 Their example, their teachings, their entreaties for aid, their 

 reports and papers, fell comparatively dead upon the mass of 

 the people. Farmers were not to be taught by men who 

 never held the plough. They did not want anything to do with 

 theories. Custom had marked out a road for them, and it 

 W'as smooth and easy to travel, and, though it might be' a 

 circle that brought up just where it had started, it had the 

 advantage, in the old farmer's mind, that in it he never lost 

 his way. It didn't require any exertion of mind. His com- 

 fort, as well as his happiness, was based on a feeling of filial 

 obedience to old usage that was hereditary in his being. It 

 was born in the blood, and ruled him with an irresistible 

 power. His field of vision was bounded and narrow, and his 

 work was strictly imitative, so far as he could see, and in no 

 way experimental. The old common law, based on prece- 

 dent, custom, practice, was his guide and his rule. He 

 would be governed by custom, not by reason. If ancient 

 custom was knoion that was enough for him. It wasn't for 

 him to doubt. To investigate would imply doubt. To in- 

 vestigate was to theorize. Theory is at the bottom of all in- 

 vestigation, and theory was a bugbear in his mind. The 



4 



