6 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



argued with himself; thus his mind was turned to the business 

 of the farm ; thus he learned to love it ; and one boy was saved 

 to the farm, whose mind was already wandering off in search of 

 some other business or profession. 



Thirty years have since been added to that boy's life, passed 

 in the various labors and experiences of the farm, and here, to- 

 day, he rejoices in his early choice, and is proud of his vocation. 

 Fellow farmer, have not you a son that you wish should be- 

 come a farmer ? Encourage him to bestow thought upon the 

 business ; listen to his suggestions ; if good, show him that you 

 appreciate them; if not practicable, convince him of it. Put 

 him in responsible positions according to his ability ; teach him 

 to manage farm machinery ; to observe the growth of plants ; 

 give him an interest in the poultry, in a vegetable garden or in 

 the cultivation of small fruits ; a calf or a colt, to raise on his 

 own account ; and, above all, see to it that you teach him all 

 that you know yourself about farming, that he may begin where 

 you leave off. In this way, though he may have no greater ca- 

 pacity than you, much progress will be made in agriculture. 

 Do this, and there will be less complaint of young men leaving 

 the farm for the counter. 



Nor let the son's education stop here. Although much of 

 practical agriculture may be learned upon the farm, as well or 

 better than elsewhere, yet there are some things that cannot be 

 so learned. To be a farmer in the highest sense, he must have 

 a good general education. I know of no profession or position 

 in life that opens so wide a field for the application of a thor- 

 ough general education as that of the farmer. He will become 

 somewhat familiar, by his every day business, with branches of 

 geology, mineralogy, chemistry, botany, zoology, physiology, or- 

 nithology, entomology, meteorology, and other sciences ; and 

 the more thorough his knowledge of them, the better able he is 

 to apply their principles to his business. Let me ask, where 

 can the young farmer so well obtain that education as at the 

 Massachusetts Agricultural College, an institution no longer an 

 experiment, but a well-established success, where modern liter- 

 ature and the sciences, as applied to agriculture, are well taught, 

 and at a moderate expense ? 



The slow growth of agricultural knowledge has proved the 

 necessity of scientific research and a practical experience joining 



