351 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



to the part of the plant wliich they attack. Side by side with 

 each, let their natural enemies be arranged, among birds, quad- 

 rupeds, reptiles and insects. In this way materials might be 

 gradually accumulated, which would supply the public with a 

 fund of curious and useful information. 



In conclusion, some inquiries might be made with reference 

 to the general mode of conducting the farm. It is necessary 

 that some intelligent and well educated person should be 

 appointed to superintend the operations of the farm ; one who 

 has sufficient knowledge to see that the experiments arc per- 

 formed in a scientific and economical manner, and stifficient 

 skill as a writer to present a faithful and luminous report of the 

 process and result of all important experiments. The superin- 

 tendent should be the secretary as well as the president of the 

 establishment. Practical men are generally wedded to routine 

 and prejudiced against innovation. Their services would be 

 indipensable on the farm, to conduct the plough, to swing the 

 scythe, to advise concerning times and seasons, and numerous 

 other practical details of farm labor. Such men are for labor- 

 ers and advisers, but not to superintend. The superintendent 

 must be a man of logical mind, and expanded views, who is 

 capable of discerning at once the true aim and nature of every 

 experiment that is proposed by the society. He must see the 

 bearing of every operation upon the general conclusion that is 

 to be drawn, and not only incapable of blunders in his own 

 plans, but capable of detecting the flaws that may exist in the 

 plans of others. The superintendent will be placed between 

 two sets of individuals — first, the society represented by intelli- 

 gent men of theoretical and practical knowledge, and second 

 the men who do the labor of the farm, from each of whom he 

 will obtain hints, by means of which, through the medium of 

 his own pen, he is to digest all facts into an intelligible result. 



He should be a man of sober habits, who is willing to confine 

 himself to the duties of his office ; who is not bigoted to old 

 practices, nor wedded to whims and theories originating in his 

 own mind ; a married man who will make his home upon the 

 farm, and superintend the labors which are performed upon it. 

 He must not be worldly-minded, to make his office an excuse 

 for riding round to see men and sights, nor a horse-jockey who 

 is too proud to attend to the inferior animals. See that he 



