396 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



11. Methods of Improving Fann-stock. Messrs. Sturtevant, Dwiglit, 



Hawes. 



12. The Claims of Ornamental Gardening upon Farmers. Messrs. Hyde, 



Fearing, Graves. 



l;l Buds. Messrs. Clark, Chadbourne, Wilder. 



14. Experiments in Potato Culture Messrs. Goodale, Knox, Sessions. 



15. Hygiene, and Diseases of Domestic Animals. Messrs. Root, Sturte- 



vant, Hadwen. 



Subjects not reported on, may be deferred till another year. 



The report was accepted, and the assignment made 

 accordingly. 



On motion of Major Ladd, it was-^ 



Resolved, That it is the opinion of this Board that the legis- 

 Liture should not incorporate any new societies which shall 

 impair the usefulness of existing societies. 



Mr. Sturtevant, from the committee to which the subject 

 was assigned, submitted the following essay on the 



ESSENTIALS OF AGRICULTURAL INQUIRY. 



In preparing young men to become efficient farmers, the 

 state college at Amherst is laying foundations that require to 

 be laid before we can expect to have a large and efficient 

 corps of investigators of agricultural problems. It is too 

 much to ask that all the graduates, or a greater part of them, 

 shall be of this class ; but we have a right to require that each 

 assist to promote a public sentiment that shall not only allow 

 men of small means to devote themselves to original research, 

 but encourage them in it by substantial assistance. May we 

 not hope that before long some generous friend of the college 

 will endow a chair devoted to original research and instruc- 

 tion in the models of scientitic inquiry? For we should 

 recognize the fact that the economizinsf of both time and 

 talents seems to require that investigation of phenomena pro- 

 ceed after a manner capable, in most instances in its larger 

 outlines, of being laid down in advance. There is order and 

 system around us, and there is always a path that leads 



