142 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



If we are to have a campaign for rural progress, what is 

 our ammunition, what are our weapons? Of course the 

 thinof we must do, above all things, is to reach the indi- 

 vidual fiirmer. He is the key to the situation. But I be- 

 lieve, under modern conditions, that which is to turn the 

 key is some form of social institution. I think that in the 

 use of these social institutions or agencies there are three 

 general principles : the first one is science, research, finding 

 out the truth ; the second is education, which is disseminat- 

 ing the truth; and the third is co-operation, which means 

 working together. I l)elieve all these three principles must 

 govern in any attem})t at rural improvement. 



Now, what are the agencies which are to work out these 

 principles? I believe we have at hand already the chief 

 agencies of rural progress, and I would name four general 

 classes : first, the State ; second, the schools ; third, the 

 voluntary organizations ; and fourth, the church. 



I speak of the State as having a special function, which 

 might perhaps be expressed by the word "control." For 

 instance, the State takes charge of the question of connner- 

 cial fertilizers, to be sure they are of standard grade. I sup- 

 pose that in New England the State would act through its 

 Board of Agriculture ; and I am not here to say what the 

 Board of Agriculture of Massachusetts, or any other State, 

 shall attempt to do. The history of the boards of agricul- 

 ture in New England is a history of splendid achievement. 

 But by way of illustration I want to suggest some things 

 which it seems to me the State boards of agriculture may 

 do, that will make for rural progress. I beheve in New 

 England one of the great difficulties has been that the farmer 

 has not adapted his farm to its best possible use. There has 

 recently been made by the United States government a soil 

 surve}'^ of the entire State of Rhode Island ; and if you take 

 the map of Rhode Island made by that soil survey, you will 

 discover the greatest divergence of soil between comnuinities 

 that are very close together. And I suppose, generally 

 speaking, the same condition prevails all over New England. 

 In Rhode Island, at least, except near the cities and in a fcAV 

 special cases, there has been no general attempt to adapt 



