MASS. BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 695 



to this rule. If instruction from strangers of distinction is de- 

 sirable, the dinner table is the most convenient medium of ob- 

 taining it. Our view of such addresses is so well expressed in 

 the introductory remarks by our friend the late Henry Colman, 

 at Andover, 1831, that we claim the indulgence of quoting his 

 words. " You do not expect," said he, "an oration. Agricul- 

 ture has little concern with rhetorical flourishes. Determined 

 principles, plain matters of fact, and the results of well-con- 

 ducted experiments, are most useful." Far be it from us to 

 speak disrespectfully of science in agricultural pursuits, — real, 

 practical science^ as distinguished from the speculations of viS' 

 ionary sciolists. But there are abroad so many fanciful notions, 

 such a propensity to humbug-g'eri/, even in farming, and by those 

 who really know better; and it is so much easier to indulge in 

 flights of fancy than to engage in well-conducted experiments, 

 that a/og* has arisen to limit the vision of the inquirer. Prac- 

 tical experience, well-digested, is the information best suited 

 to the tastes of the farmers of Massachusetts ; and the most 

 reliable source of information for the instruction of their sons. 

 Whenever the State shall have laid a broad and firm founda- 

 tion for securing this, she will have done her whole duty — and 

 not till then. 



Profiting by the wisdom of the late Lord Timothy Dexter, 

 of Newburyport, who, in preparing his " Pickle for the Know- 

 ing Ones," omitted entirely all the punctuation pauses, and 

 added a full page at the close, to be applied according to the 

 taste of the reader ; — so we have forbore to bandy compliments 

 to those from whom we received kind attentions on our visit at 

 Berkshire — simply saying, that we found the hospitalities of 

 the county on a par with other improvements. 



Respectfully submitted by 



JOHN W. PROCTOR. 

 December, 1852. 



