230 BOARD OF AGRICULTUEE. 



Territories, and setting aside nearly 8,000,000 acres of pub- 

 lic lands for endowment of same, was passed in 1862, and 

 the advantages thus offered have largely been seized upon 

 by an eager people. 



Our own college at Amherst has now been open for twenty 

 years, and though not receiving the patronage the cause de- 

 serves, and laboring sometimes under difficulties, the good 

 to the State at large and to the country from the work of 

 this institution find the Experiment Station connected there- 

 with can only be told when we shall have passed away. 



The changes that have come over enlightened lands mainly 

 within the last fifty years are simply marvellous. Chemistry 

 has already done wonders for us, showing the actual needs of 

 animals and plants, and how to supply these needs ; and the 

 names of Liebig and his followers will stand before future 

 generations as suggestive of future possibilities 



Lands once considered worn out are now found to be defi- 

 cient only in certain elements which can be readily and eco- 

 nomically supplied, and the common farmer is coming to 

 understand so well the needs of the crops he would raise 

 that he scrutinizes the analysis of any commercial fertilizer 

 offered him, and thanks the State for a law which protects 

 him against fraudulent compounds. 



Specialists in various departments, by a persistent deter- 

 mination that knows no defeat, have brought out wonderful 

 truths and laid them as free gifts at our door. 



As discovery leads to discovery, and invention to inven- 

 tion, it is safe for us only to assume that progress has just 

 begun. 



Variety and Quality of Products. 



In ancient times the variety of products was extremely 

 limited, and often when one of these failed there was famine. 

 A terrible illustration of this comes to us from the failure of 

 the potato in Ireland within the memory of this generation. 



As we progress we come to depend less on any one article, 

 and so divide the risks of failure. By careful selections and 

 crossings and cultivation we have, as common articles of 

 supply, assortments of fruits and vegetables, — luxuries, in- 

 deed, yet so easily produced and so cheaply offered as to 



