OWNER OF THE SOIL. 179 



cultivation are just as much open to-day as they were when the 

 first cattle-show was held in this village ; there are just the 

 same doubts raised as to the best way of selecting animals and 

 the best mode of feeding them. These questions are all open, 

 and if you examine the agricultural literature of this Common- 

 wealth, you will find that precisely the same questions that were 

 debated here half a century ago are debated now, and that we, 

 who think ourselves so much wiser than our fathers, have come 

 no nearer to any definite conclusion than they did. I believe 

 that this should not be so. I think there are definite rules 

 which can be laid down for the guidance of the farmer, just as 

 much as there are definite rules that can be laid down for the 

 guidance of scientific men in the studio or in the laboratory. 

 I have not the least doubt of it, and it is for that reason that we 

 who believe in agricultural education, and in education of all 

 sorts, as applied to the practical forces of life, are continually 

 urging the support of the Agricultural College on the people of 

 this Commonwealth. 



I think we ought to remember that upon nothing but the best 

 intelligence and the best education can we arrive at any satis- 

 factory conclusions. As free and independent citizens of the 

 Commonwealth of Massachusetts, we may enjoy the privilege of 

 groping in the dark as much as we please, but we do not arrive 

 at any definite ends. We may gather together a mass of figures 

 of one sort and another, but if they tell no definite story, we 

 are none the wiser for it. It is because we have our own in- 

 terests in our own hands, and can confine ourselves to them, 

 that we are compelled to exercise the best knowledge we can 

 possibly obtain in all the great business of life. So the farmer 

 here needs education. He needs it for two reasons. In the 

 first place, that he may maintain his social and civil position 

 with dignity and propriety ; and in the next place, in order that 

 he may carry on the business of farming successfully and pros- 

 perously. 



Now, what is the social position of the farmer in Massachu- 

 setts ? What is the difference between the farmer here and in 

 Europe ? The difference is, that the farmer here is the owner 

 of his own soil, be his acres many or few, and it is for him in 

 his own wisdom to settle how that little spot of land known as 

 his farm shall be cultivated, for his benefit and the benefit of his 



