386 BOARD OF AGRICULTUEE. [Pub. Doc. 



The following resolution was unanimously adopted : — 



Resolved, That this Board approve of the Manual of Agri- 

 culture submitted by its authors, Geo. B. Emerson and Charles 

 L. Flint, and recommend its publication by those gentlemen as 

 a work well adapted for use in the schools of Massachusetts.^ 



At a meeting of the Board, held Jan. 17, 1862, it was — 



Resolved, That a committee of three consisting of Messrs. 

 Joseph White, Charles C. Sewall and Henry H. Peters, be 

 requested to represent the merits of the Manual of Agriculture 

 to the committee of the Legislature on Education, on the order 

 "To consider the expediency of including the elements of 

 agriculture among the branches to be taught in all the public 

 schools in which the school committee deem it expedient." 



In his ninth annual report (1861), Secretary Flint said of 

 this ISlanual : — 



It is a work of over three hundred pages, designed for the 

 use of the more advanced classes in the public schools, and for 

 the use of farmers generally. It was not exjjected that this 

 Manual would take the place of the elementary studies in the 

 schools. ... It is gratifying to be able to state, that the objects 

 of the Board in the preparation of the Manual have been ap- 

 preciated, and that many of the towns very promptly introduced 

 it into their schools, and, so far as heard from, with uniformly 

 satisfactory results. . . . 



Hitherto the want of a suitable text-book, comprehensive in 

 plan, simple in arrangement, and complete in execution, has 

 presented an insuperable barrier to the successful introduction 

 of the study of the practical sciences connected with agricul- 

 ture into the common school. It was the purpose of the State 

 Board of Agriculture to supply this want, and the Manual is 

 offered as the means of laying the foundation of a valuable 

 practical education.^ 



* Manual of Agriculture, for the School, the Farm, and the Fireside, hy 

 George B. Emerson and Charles L. Flint. 30fi pages. Illustrated. Boston, 1862. 

 2 Agriculture of Massachusetts, 1861 (Part I.), pp. 196-198. 



