MASS. BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 531 



Manufactures. 



We have considered this subject in several points of view, 

 and have found, in each of them, strong reasons for the en- 

 couragement of manufactures by the agricultural societies of 

 ihis Commonwealth. 



There is an obvious and necessary connection between all 

 the arts of life, and the interests of each are best promoted by 

 sympathy and harmony of action with all the rest. Manu- 

 factures are, in a very important degree, linked with the in- 

 terests of agriculture. They proceed from, stimulate and 

 recompense the labor, skill and enterprise of the farmer. He 

 must produce the raw materials, to be converted by the manu- 

 facturer into fabrics, which the community requires for com- 

 fort and health. His cattle-yard, sheep-fold, stye, poultry-yard, 

 •dairy, orchards and fields, are all needed tributaries to the gen- 

 eral stock, which supplies every article of food and clothing, of 

 comfort and luxury. Our houses, in every part, and in all 

 their conveniences ; our implements of labor, and our means of 

 •conveyance, remind us of the necessary cultivation of the soil. 

 The traveller, and he v/ho dwells at home, the manufacturer, 

 the mechanic and the merchant, have all frequent occasion to 

 feel their indebtedness to those interests, which it is our imme- 

 diate object to foster and encourage. 



Without pursuing this obvious thought, we proceed to re- 

 mark, that by suitable attention to manufactures, and a gen- 

 ■erous encouragement of every effort to multiply and improve 

 them, we shall contribute directly to our own advantage. The 

 aid we shall lend will, of necessity, be returned in the large 

 consumption of the products of the farm and the garden, and 

 in a corresponding increase of the profits of cultivation. 



Nor is it less obvious, we conceive, that a free and generous 

 supply of those articles which the manufacturer can contribute, 

 must enhance, in a great measure, the attractiveness and the 

 profits of our annual exhibitions. There are many who usually 

 attend these exhibitions, to whom no objects can be presented 

 more gratifying than such contributions. We have noticed 



