62 ^lASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



SOME THOUGHTS O^ THE MA:N'AGEME]N^T 

 OF AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 



MIDDLESEX SOUTH. 



Prize Essay by Rev. J. H. Temple, of Framingliam. 



The agricultural society has passed the stage of novelty 

 aud experiment, and become a well-established and well-de- 

 lined institution. It has a history of its own ; its special 

 province is understood, its capabilities have been tested, its 

 defects ascertained. 



Like all voluntary associations, it is subject to alternate 

 seasons of depression and prosperity. It has the usual ob- 

 stacles to overcome ; and is not exempt from the common 

 causes of internal friction. 



In the working of the democratic principle, selfishness has 

 its fullest scope. Men become adepts in the use of influ- 

 ences which, indirectly as well as directly, promote personal 

 aggrandizement. They accept place with great apparent 

 disinterestedness, but with the settled purpose to make it 

 pay. They claim that the public shall remember their volun- 

 tary services, whenever the said public bestows its suffrages. 



Strange — and yet not so strange, after all. The agricult- 

 ural society offers a place where the man of lazy leisure and 

 political aspirations can advance his own interests. Its more 

 permanent offices ])ring the occupant into close relations 

 with the bustling as well as the more retired class of farmers, 

 and by a judicious distribution of circulars and reports, and 

 some wisdom in making up committees, he lays down a little 

 wine for use in the possible contingency of his candidacy for 

 public favor. Naturally a little clique is formed and becomes 

 self-perpetuating. And just as naturally outsiders arc dis- 

 gusted, and distrust and disappointment create conflicting 



