186 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. 



drain and what not to drain ; it will teach him how to carry on 

 his war against insects ; it will teach him what kind of food is 

 best for his animals ; it will teach him how he can prepare his 

 fertilizers, and put them in the most economical way into his 

 soil, and so arrange them that from that soil he can draw the 

 largest crops. 



I think, therefore, we ought to listen to the rules laid down 

 by these teachers, and believe in them ; we ought, in our own 

 operations, to contribute our share ; we ought to encourage the 

 Commonwealth in sustaining this institution ; we ought to be- 

 lieve in science, in this great scientific age of the world. And 

 when we are told that no other branch of biTsiness in the com- 

 munity asks for education, — that the mechanic runs his shop, 

 the manufacturer runs his mill, the merchant runs his counting- 

 room, all without the aid of science and without education, and 

 therefore the farmer should transact his business without edu- 

 cation, — let us remind these gentlemen that every conceivable 

 branch of business in this world has its teachers except the 

 farmer. Why, sir, how many scientific engineers were educated 

 in this Commonwealth before you could dam up the Connecticut 

 River and the Merrimack River, for the establishment of 

 Holyoke and Chicopee and Lawrence and Lowell ? Was it ig- 

 norance which accomplished that work ? No ; it was the appli- 

 cation of the best rules of science that prepared the way for the 

 manufacturer to build his mill upon those streams — mills in- 

 volving the nicest principles of the best science and best me- 

 chanics of the age. That is what education has done for man- 

 ufactures. It has taken the business of manufacturing out of 

 our kitchens and garrets, and placed it into palaces. Has it 

 done nothing for mechanics ? It has developed all those indus- 

 tries which make mechanics prosperous. Has it done nothing 

 for our taste ? Were not your architects and landscape-gar- 

 deners educated ? Why, every book-keeper, every clerk, every 

 lawyer and clergyman and physician, every manufacturer, has 

 an opportunity to avail himself of knowledge which is specially 

 adapted to his purpose. Why, then, should not the farmer, 

 who is engaged in a vastly more intricate and difficult business, 

 have his education also ? Is there any reason ? You all know 

 one man of the last century, who was a distinguished lawyer, 

 a great statesman, a great writer, a great orator ; he left an im- 



