14 . MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



perhaps greater importance, the young man who is to become 

 a farmer should at once feel and realize that the occupation 

 upon which he is entering is not a mere mechanical routine 

 of labor ; that while it is one which may require severe physical 

 toil, it also calls for and demands the exercise of the highest 

 intellectual facnlties." 



George J. L. Colby, Esq., addressed the society at George- 

 town, October 1, 1862. He spoke on " The Relations of Man 

 to Agriculture," and said, " Man's progress in civilization has 

 been and must be through the paths of agriculture ; that comes 

 first as the foundation of society." He said also what I suppose 

 we are all ready to believe here, that " the majority of great 

 minds from the beginning of time have come from rural life." 



Hon. Daniel Saunders, Jr., addressed the society at Andover, 

 September 30, 1863. He declared, " It is a mistaken idea that 

 for successful field labor merely physical training is required." 

 "What is wanted by our farmers is an education that shall not 

 only accumulate facts, but which shall enlarge the mind, develop 

 the powers of the brain, widen and deepen the channels of in- 

 formation, and bring into operation those latent elements of 

 mental perception and concentration." 



Hon. Darwin E. Ware delivered the annual address at Law- 

 rence, September 28, 1864. He stated : " But it is not enough 

 that mechanical and manufacturing industry supply the imple- 

 ments, the markets, and the general conditions necessary to a 

 self-sustaining and improving agriculture. The true principles 

 of such an agriculture must be investigated, inculcated and 

 diffused. This necessity has been most emphatically recognized 

 in the liberal grants of land Congress has made for the estab- 

 lishment of agricultural colleges. Such a measure is of good 

 import." 



Nehemiah Cleveland, Esq., was the orator of the society at 

 Lawrence, September 27, 1866. He remarked, "I do not hesi- 

 tate to say that these addresses constitute a valuable body of 

 learning and counsel, specially designed indeed for the farmer's 

 advantage, l)ut broad enough to be of service to us all." Some 

 of us will undoubtedly agree with hira. He also says, "To 

 form a system in agriculture, as in anything else, — to deduce 

 and lay down rules, — we must first collect facts. But this 

 alone is not enough. Unless the observations are of the right 



