MASS. BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 487 



teration in the feeling of the masses upon the subject, and that 

 is wliat is wanted. He believed farmers are yet to be taught 

 that they must "magnify their office." A practical farmer was 

 very well, but he cannot make farmers. He cannot educate 

 others to be farmers. An educated man is a powerful man, 

 whether he be a farmer, a mechanic, or an artizan. The man 

 eminent in his profession, whatever it is, stands before a third 

 or second rate man, in another calling. Power is what is 

 wanted by our farmers, and this must be got by knowledge. 

 Dr. Choules alluded to what he observed of farming in his re- 

 cent tour through Europe. He was astonished at the results 

 he there saw, and which showed the most extended and thor- 

 ough system, connected with the most rigid economy. He 

 eulogized the exhibition of the British Royal Agricultural So- 

 ciety, and believed $10,000 would be well expended in send- 

 ing a delegation of our practical farmers to the great exhibition 

 of this society, and then let them come home and tell what 

 they had seen. They would confer a greai benefit upon the 

 farmers of Massachusetts. 



Mr. Bird, of the executive council, did not agree with the 

 general ideas which had been presented. He did not believe 

 a society like the Royal Society in England would help our 

 farmers, and to show this, proceeded to contrast the condition 

 of the agricultural population there, with ours. He believed 

 we have now all the machinery in operation which is necessary 

 for the diffusion of agricultural knowledge, and that machinery 

 is our system of common schools. He did not believe in col- 

 leges of any kind, as the proper place to impart this instruction, 

 and thought the common school system is all that is needed. 

 He also denied that the State had afforded assistance to other 

 interests to the neglect of agriculture. 



Professor Fowler replied to Mr. Bird, and showed that other 

 interests had been better cared for than agriculture. He said 

 the interest of the country might be divided into three great 

 branches. First, the agricultural branch, which produces the 

 raw material ; second, the manufacturing branch, which works 

 the raw material into shape for the various uses of man ; and 

 third, the interest which conveys these products to different 



