418 MASS. BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



thing ; and if it does not squint towards a college, I might be 

 in favor of it. It might be useful in collecting information all 

 over the State. The gentleman says that young men abandon 

 their farms because they cannot improve. Perhaps that may 

 be the case. If so, it is for the reason that I have said, that 

 we have no science. We have no data to go upon. We have 

 only our own experience. 



Remarks of Professor Wm. C Fowler, of Amherst : — Sci- 

 ence is, in itself, the same the world over. In its applications 

 it may be varied according to circumstances. The application 

 of science to agriculture in this country may vary from its ap- 

 plication in England, in consequence of the peculiar circum- 

 stances connected with our climate or soil. We must, there- 

 fore, first determine what these peculiar circumstances are, and 

 then we shall know how to employ science in aid of agriculture 

 in our own country. If it be true, as the gentleman says, that 

 we have no American science and no Massachusetts science, 

 then upon this assumption of his, the very first thing which 

 we ought to do is to have an American science, and a Massa- 

 chusetts science. 



But leaving the ground assumed by the gentleman, I come 

 back to the true ground, namely, that science is the same all 

 over the world. It is our business to see that its applica- 

 tions to the art of agriciilture in Massachusetts are such as they 

 ought to be. In the first stages of civilization, art precedes, 

 science follows. In the advanced stages of civilization, science 

 precedes, art follows. All the higher processes of the useful 

 arts are dependent on science. 



There have been immense additions made during the last 

 fifty years to science in general, and to those particular sciences 

 which relate to agriculture. This is true of chemistry, of geol- 

 ogy, of mineralogy, of botany, and vegetable"^physiology, of 

 zoology, and animal physiology. Accordingly, the govern- 

 ments of Europe, as we learn by the excellent report of the 

 agricultural commission, lately published, are extensively tak- 

 ing measures, by means of agricultural colleges and schools, 

 first to apply these sciences to the art of agriculture, and next, 

 to communicate extensively a knowledge of the applications 



