ISG BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



condition of our pastures, the remark will as certainly prove 

 true in the case of the latter as of the former. 



Of a catalogue of land animals numbering over 90,000, not 

 one hundred can be made subservient to man, or in any way 

 contribute to his enjoyment. It is natural to suppose that the 

 improvement in stock will keep pace with our industry and 

 intelligence, but it has not been so in the history of the Ameri- 

 can people. Until within a very few years, we have been half 

 a century behind England and Holland in this matter. Farm- 

 ers of New England should at once consider the fact, carefully 

 fix their minds upon the classes in the various kinds of animals 

 best adapted in all respects to their wants and circumstances, 

 and leave all others to die out. 



That human industry cannot begin and finish any thing at 

 one and the same time, is clearly illustrated in the history of 

 farming. The impulse which a protective tariff gave to the 

 manufacturing interest, immediately following the declaration 

 of peace in 1814, partially developed the agricultural resources 

 of Massachusetts by the increased demand for the necessary 

 supplies of life. When, however, the manufacturing interest 

 became the dominant interest, diverting labor and capital from 

 the field to the loom and the workshop, promising large returns 

 and early independence from want and labor, farms were 

 neglected, and a check was given to home culture which 

 diminished the products of the soil when an increase was 

 needed. 



Notwithstanding all organized effort to repair this neglect, 

 the evil has continued in force. The stimulus which the 

 exhibitions and efforts of the Hampshire Society have given to 

 agriculture has not yet reached the minds of the entire farming 

 population of the county. The masses are not yet moved to 

 systematic action. In old England, (I state upon the authority 

 of one who has travelled at home and abroad,) where it costs as 

 much to stock a rented farm as it does to buy and stock one of 

 equal relative value here, the farmer pays one-tenth of his 

 income to support the church and state, and lives much more 

 comfortably than is usual in New England. Why should so 

 many farmers leave the cultivation of the choicest fruits and 

 vegetables, the fattening and raising of small stock, and the 

 home consumption of these products, to the members of agri- 



