ESSEX AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 133 



as well as his plough, bright by use ; and how can he use it to 

 more profit, than by reading the thoughts of those who have 

 written well on subjects connected with his own occupation ? 

 It furnishes, not merely an innocent, but an intellectual employ- 

 ment, for the long winter evenings, when, if not thus employed, 

 time is too often passed listlessly, and unprofitably. What bet- 

 ter guaranty can we have, than such a library affords, that this 

 society shall hereafter be able to enlist, in its ranks, the services 

 of intelligent farmers, to direct its management, and to sustain, 

 by its reports, the fair fame transmitted to it, by a Pickering, a 

 Colman, and other well-read farmers. 



In the third place, such a library would give permanency, "a 

 local habitation and a name," to much of the agricultural litera- 

 ture of the day, which, however valuable, soon disappears, and 

 is almost lost beyond recovery. As an instance in point, it may 

 be stated, that the greatest difficulty was recently experienced, 

 in procuring a complete set of this society's transactions, for the 

 purpose of having them bound in volumes, for the use of the 

 society. Such a set is now obtained, but the task would be al- 

 most hopeless, to procure another, pamphlet by pamphlet, one 

 from this source, and another from that, without any clue to 

 guide in the search. The volumes of the transactions of other 

 agricultural societies, particularly those of the Massachusetts, 

 and of the New York State societies, are very difficult of access. 

 The New England Farmer, enriched, as its pages are, by the 

 copious pens of Fessenden and of Lowell, will, in a few years, 

 be extant only in the libraries of a few reading men. Now, if 

 these and kindred publications, with works of foreign authorship, 

 such as Low's Practical Agriculture, and Stephens' Book of the 

 Farm, could be placed in such a depository, we should be always 

 sure of their preservation, and we could lay hands upon them, 

 just where and when we wanted. As references, such works 

 are often needed, and it is of no small consequence, to be able to 

 command them. 



In the fourth place, such a library would be a public benefit, 

 from the fact that nothing of the kind exists among us. If one 

 wishes to consult books on theology, law, or medicine, or on the 

 natural sciences, there are abundant sources of information on 



