ESSEX AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 137 



terprising hands, that these discoveries and improvements are 

 to be effected. Why, then, should not our young farmers have 

 the facihties for the exercise of their ingenuity — the incentives 

 to rouse them to exertion, and the guides to direct their pathway 

 to excehence? For this purpose, agricultural journals and 

 newspapers are efficient helps ; but they are not the only helps, 

 nor do they treat so fully on the various subjects connected with 

 agriculture, as may often be desired. To the investigation of 

 some of these subjects, men, competent to the task, have devo- 

 ted the labor of years, and have given to the public the results 

 of their labors in invaluable treatises. Let such treatises be 

 accessible to the young farmer, who is disposed to study them, 

 and the good effects will hereafter be witnessed in carrying 

 into practice the new and useful suggestions to be gleaned from 

 them. 



It may be objected, secondly, to the establishment of lil^raries 

 by agricultural societies, that the benefits proposed to be de- 

 rived from them proceed on the ground that a large part of those 

 already engaged in farming, will avail themselves of them, 

 while there will be, in fact, but a comparatively small number. 

 The objection is, doubtless, entitled to consideration, but the 

 only way in which it can be properly tested, is by actual experi- 

 ment. It is the same objection that has been often urged against 

 the forming of agricultural societies themselves, where none 

 before existed ; and as often, nearly, as these societies have 

 been organized, the objection has vanished, like mist before the 

 sun. The aversion of experienced farmers to consult books on 

 agriculture, is, unquestionably, most prevalent; and equally 

 true is it, that it will continue to exist so long as no systematic 

 effort is attempted to overcome it. The best works on agricul- 

 ture, and subjects connected with it, must be placed within 

 their easy reach, and they invited to make a free use of them. 

 Our own Commonwealth has done something to the accom- 

 plishment of this object, by causing reports on some of these 

 subjects to be prepared by competent hands, and distributed 

 throughout her boundaries. And yet, how small a proportion 

 of her farmers have ever examined one of the most valuable of 

 these reports, the report, by Dr. Harris, on the Insects of Mas- 

 18 



