No. 4.] FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 221 



ancient plough is in many cases replaced by the riding or 

 sulky plough ; and, while I hardly think that the plough can 

 ever be done away with, yet the single-furrow plough is too 

 slow for the times. I hope to see an implement that will 

 cut a furrow and pulverize it ready for planting at one 

 operation, working to the desired depth and two feet or 

 more wide. Some may smile at the idea, but such a tool 

 would only be in keeping with our planting machines and 

 harvesters. 



1 I want to see our dairy cows all free from dangerous 

 diseases, and all bred up to a fifteen per cent butter-fat 

 standard. 



It will please me to see on every farm general-purpose 

 horses fitted for all farm work, and yet capable of showing 

 a three-minute clip when hitched to the buggy. Some of 

 my older friends here may not be satisfied with this method 

 of travelling, however, and still look with eagerness for per- 

 fection in the horseless carriage. My sympathies are with 

 the horse ; and, although other methods of travel must be 

 resorted to for convenience, yet for the greatest enjoyment 

 the noble, well-cared-for and spirited horse, with a modern 

 carriage, furnishes that peculiar pleasure which is invigorating 

 and inspiring ; and when our State has perfected her system 

 of State highways so that we can drive from the seacoast to 

 Berkshire comfortably seated in a carriage in which the 

 mechanic's skill has perfected the comfortable upholstering, 

 the elastic springs and the pneumatic tires, a sense of enjoy- 

 ment equalled by none can be realized. 



I want to see the free delivery of mails in every rural dis- 

 trict for the convenience of the Massachusetts farmers ; and 

 the establishing of postal savings banks, that his children 

 may learn to save their small accumulations, and his hired 

 men may deposit their savings with the assurance that the 

 receipts for the same are backed by the United States gov- 

 ernment. 



And then, with the establishing of foreign markets for our 

 crops and dairy productions, with fraudulent imitations of 

 butter and cheese forced out of existence, with a knowledse 

 of the proper use of the plant food in commercial fertilizers 

 and an assurance of pure seeds and unadulterated feedstuffs 



