No. 4.] RURAL I'ROGRESS. 133 



A CAMPAIGN FOR RURAL PROGRESS. 



BY PRES. KENYON L. BUTTERFIELD, KINGSTON, K. I. 



Ladies and gentlemen : It is witli some diffidence tliat I 

 attempt to discuss agricultural conditions in New England, 

 because I have been within her borders but a few years, and 

 I do not pretend to have made an exhaustive and minute 

 study of the situation. But I am interested in the subject, 

 and I suppose that my interest is enhanced by the fact, of 

 which I am proud, that my ancestors for about two hundred 

 years were New England farmers. I am glad to be with 

 3^ou to-day. I believe, moreover, that a discussion of New 

 England agricultural conditions is worth while ; that it is a 

 subject of significance not merely to those who are imme- 

 diately interested in agriculture, but to every citizen. I be- 

 lieve that the problem of rural progress in New England, 

 though difficult, is capable of solution, and that it is worth 

 solving. 



We ought at the outset to face frankly the difficulties in 

 the path. I don't mean to enumerate all the ills that New 

 England agriculture is heir to ; but since I have come to 

 New England men have said to me, sometimes in so many 

 words and sometimes by implication, that New England 

 agriculture is in a bad way. Business men, living in cities, 

 have said that not only is agriculture on a decline in New 

 England, but that it has become relatively an unimportant 

 industry, and that it is almost useless to attempt its regen- 

 eration. Now, whether we believe this or not, we ought 

 not to ignore the difficulties. For instance, we can't deny 

 the presence of these rocks; they speak for themselves. 

 We can't deny that, in comparison Avith some of the great 

 agricultural areas of the country. New England has a stub- 



