198 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



It is gratifying to be able to state, that the objects of the 

 Board in the preparation of the Manual have been appreciated, 

 and that many of the towns very promptly introduced it into 

 their schools, and, so far as heard from, with uniformly satis- 

 factory results. 



Agriculture is the grand interest of this country : the great- 

 est material interest of the civilized Avorld. A knowledge of 

 the principles which underlie all intelligent practice of this art 

 is useful, not only to farmers but to men in all the walks of 

 life. Is it not vastly more important to understand the nature 

 and properties of the air we breathe, the water we drink, 

 the soil on which we all depend for subsistence, and the best 

 practical means of obtaining this subsistence, than to be able to 

 solve a problem in equations, to name the rivers in Ethiopia 

 and Siberia, or to become familiar with the isolated facts of 

 ancient, or even modern history ? 



Hitherto the want of a suitable text-book, comprehensive in 

 plan, simple in arrangement, and complete in execution, has 

 presented an insuperable barrier to the successful introduction 

 of the study of the practical sciences connected wnth agricul- 

 ture into the common school. It was the purpose of the State 

 Board of Agriculture to supply this want, and the Manual is 

 offered as the means of laying the foundation of a valuable 

 practical education. 



After the most careful consideration of the Manual by the 

 State Board, it was — 



^^ Resolved, That this Board approve of the Manual of Agriculture 

 submitted by its authors, Messrs. George B. Emerson and Charles L. 

 Flint, and recommend its publication by these gentlemen, as a work well 

 adapted for use in the schools of Massachusetts." 



AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS. 



Special attention is called to the Statistics of the Agriculture 

 of the Commonwealth, at the end of the Abstract of the 

 Returns of the Agricultural Societies. They have been com- 

 piled with great labor by Mr. George Wingate Chase, from 

 the official returns of the eighth United States census, 1860, 

 and from the returns of the assessors of towns, taken for the 

 use of the valuation committee, at the same lime, — the collectors 



