254 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



influence until every drop of water contained therein is dis- 

 turbed, so societies organized for the good of the people 

 will affect all classes in the community to a greater or less 

 extent. Agricultural societies established primarily for the 

 improvement of stock and the productions of the soil have 

 been a perhaps silent influence in the encouragement of 

 other industries allied to agriculture. The improvement in 

 farm machinery, intelligent fertilization, the convenient ar- 

 rangement of farm buildings, the introduction of new varie- 

 ties of crops, and many other things which we enjoy to-day, 

 which add to our comfort and pleasure, have been stimu- 

 lated either directly or indirectly by agricultural organiza- 

 tions. Changes have taken place in many of the features 

 of their management and purposes, it is true, but this is 

 only in keeping with the advancement going on all around 

 us in every industr}^ 



At the close of a centur}^ and the beginning of a new one 

 it is profitable, as well as natural, for us to note some of 

 the many changes that have taken place in tlie hundred 

 years now past. To note all the changes that have taken 

 place in our homes and upon the farms would be calling a 

 long roll. A century ago not even in the homes of the 

 richest was there a furnace or even an open grate or a bath- 

 room or gas jet. The warming pan, the four-post bed with 

 its curtains to be drawn when extremely cold, were among 

 the luxuries then enjoyed. In those days the merchant kept 

 his own books, and wrote his own letters with a quill pen 

 and let them dry or dusted them with sand. Not a letter 

 box existed or a stamp or an envelope. In the most popu- 

 lous places there was but one mail a day, and in the larger 

 towns but one a week, while in the smaller and more remote 

 places one a month was all that was expected. In 1799 

 there were but seventeen daily newspapers in all the United 

 States, — not a magazine or an illustrated paper of any sort, 

 or scientific paper or trade journal. All printing was done 

 by hand. To print as much matter as is now printed by one 

 of the most modern presses in one hour would have taken 

 three months by the presses then in use. Not one of the 

 many modern inventions now in daily use, and so common 

 as not to receive a passing notice or thought, of when or 

 where they were first constructed, then existed. 



