292 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



families are all grown from the same kind of soil as the root 

 and the grain. 



And here, again, looking at the high degree of importance 

 which we accord to agriculture among the producers of the 

 world, we are to keep in mind that its forces do not come 

 altogether of themselves, nor do they mature at once. The 

 truth is far from either of these ideals. Agriculture has its 

 small beginnings and is a thing of progress, just as truly as 

 anything in nature or in art. As the child, physically, grows 

 to the proportions of a man, and as in mind there is the intel- 

 lectual bud, flower, and fruitage, in order to a ripe manhood, 

 so in the processes of agriculture the desired end is not 

 reached all at once. The bulb, the seed, or the cutting must 

 be put into the ground, and the tender plant, spire, or shoot 

 nurtured, before it can become a mature plant, stalk, or tree. 

 In the field, the ground must be ploughed, its surface pulver- 

 ized, the seed sown or planted, and the hills cultivated, or the 

 harvest will never be gathered. And still, the faint-hearted 

 look upon the soil of New England, and say, How can we 

 succeed here ? Answer, first : The harder the soil the better, 

 it may be, for both mind and muscle. And secondly : What 

 unaided labor cannot accomplish, science and art come in to 

 assist in doing. The time is come when the helpers of the 

 soil in the production of grasses and grains, and of plants in 

 general, are more than ever in the past, coming to be known 

 and appreciated. The abattoirs and the compost heaps are 

 doing much. Then the strong, educated minds are at work 

 for us. One by patient investigation tells us of the powers 

 and processes in the germination and growth of plants ; and 

 by long-continued and persistent experimenting, he demon- 

 strates the functions of roots and rootlets, and the periodical 

 upward and downward flow of sap, and thus.the laws of tree- 

 growth. Another tells us, specifically, what elements and in 

 what chemical proportions, compounds or mixtures must be 

 made in order that nature may respond to our requests the 

 most liberally in crops. Another analyzes soils and fertili- 

 zers, and thus aids improvements on waste lands, and protects 

 the farmers against imposition. And yet another instructs us 

 in all that conduces or appertains to success in the dairy. 

 Thus on to the end of the column. 



