14G BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



such a procedure. The prices of hay and other farm prod- 

 ucts in New England during the past two or three 3'ears are 

 giving great promise of a better future for New England 

 agriculture. So long as the supply is so limited as to main- 

 tain good prices, certainly there is no more important prob- 

 lem for our people to consider than that of the best means 

 of renovating our exhausted soils and of maintaining their 

 fertility. In other words, every effort should be made to 

 make the best possible use of the natural w^ater supply, both 

 by tillage and irrigation. The system of agriculture adopted 

 should also be one which will insure the maintenance of a 

 favorable physical condition of the soil, which will involve 

 the least unnecessary waste of manurial elements and which 

 will finally result in the largest profit. 



The problems which present themselves along these several 

 lines, and which must be solved before we begin to approach 

 to the ideal in agriculture, are still enough to engage the 

 energies of many agricultural experiment station workers for 

 a long period of time. 



The difficulties which beset soil renovation and the main- 

 tenance of fertility would be materially reduced provided 

 every farm were immediately adjacent to a large city, and if 

 large stores of low-priced stable manure were always obtain- 

 able. Unfortunately, the farms which enjoy such favorable 

 locations are comparatively few, and the great majority of 

 farmers in Massachusetts are and always Avill be in a greater 

 or less degree dependent u})on artificial manures. The 

 dependence of the farmer upon this class of manures empha- 

 sizes the necessity for increased agricultural education, and 

 makes a knowledge of agricultural chemistry and of soil 

 physics of greater importance than ever before in the history 

 of New England airriculture. 



It was my pleasure, four years ago, at the winter meeting 

 of your Board at Westfield, to present a paper covering in 

 detail the various kinds of chemical manures and their uses. 

 There is but little which was presented at that time which I 

 should care to modify now ; Imt there are a few lines in 

 which additional or more conclusive data have since been 

 obtained, which it may be well to mention at this point. 



