144 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



New England lands, which would be adapted to their special 

 purposes, if they only knew about it. I have faith in such 

 a plan, but it must be based on a thorough understanding of 

 the conditions of the soil, the market, and all that. 



And there is the question of farm labor. What objection 

 is there to having the State, under some auspices, act as a 

 sort of clearing-house to help furnish farm laborers to the 

 people of the country ? I see no reason why it cannot be 

 worked out, if carefully managed. 



In the second place come the schools. I will spend but a 

 moment on the schools, because I suppose President Stone 

 treated of that subject very fully last evening ; but I want 

 to call your attention to the fact that you nmst deal with 

 this question of education in a very large way. We have 

 done somethino- in the matter of aOTicultural education, but 

 we have made just a beginning; and the New England 

 States must be much more liberal in their appropriations, 

 nmch more enthusiastic in their support of educational insti- 

 tutions that have to do with rural people, than I think they 

 have been, if they are to have rapid rural progress. Take, 

 for instance, the rural schools. 1 know nothinof in detail 

 about the rural schools in Massachusetts, but I believe there 

 are two things that may be said about them anywhere. One 

 of them is, that the country school should be as good as 

 any other school. I understand in Massachusetts you try 

 to make it so by large contributions from the State. The 

 country school must be loj^al to agriculture. In my opinion, 

 it hasn't been, — perhaps not because it meant to be dis- 

 loyal, but the teachers and the text-books have so often, 

 consciously or unconsciously, led the mind of the boy and 

 girl away from the farm toward the city. 



I have no fault to find with the country teachers. Thou- 

 sands of them have done splendid work, and are doing it to- 

 day ; but the teacher has not been able to make the boy see 

 that there is a chance in agriculture. The country boy has 

 not been taught in schools to understand that right around 

 him is the source of the richest kind of life, is a means of 

 growth and development and genuine })leasure as well as a 

 means of livelihood. And the rural schools, if they are to 

 do their work, nmst seriously and thoroughly take up the 



