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an opposite view to Mr. Butler and not only expressed the 

 belief that it did pay to reclaim those lands when done in- 

 telligently, but it was one of the best investments farmers 

 could make ; although, where there are meadows that cut 

 good crops of native hay at no expense he thought it best to 

 let them alone. 



Mr. E. G. Nason of West Newbury, took Mr Butler's 

 view of the case, and cited examples of marked failure in 

 his town, but unless we can increase the value of land he 

 would advise to let the meadows alone and attend to the 

 uplands. 



Mr. David Warren of Swampscott, gave his experience 

 in underdrained land, and believes it a paying investment 

 in certain kinds of land; his underdrained land had pro- 

 duced 1000 bushels of onions to the acre, and 150 barrels 

 of potatoes. 



Mr. N. A. Bushby of Peabody, referred to Mr. Warren's 

 land as the best drained in the county, and cited other 

 cases, but was in general of the same opinion as Mr. But- 

 ler, that the cost of reclaiming, is too large to warrant any 

 profit from it. 



Mr. James P. King, N. P. Perkins of Wenham, and 

 others spoke on the subject, and all came to the conclusion 

 that it would be better to go slow on reclaiming. 



The afternoon meeting was opened by M. Walsh Bart- 

 lett of West Newbury, who read a very thoughtful and care- 

 fully prepared paper on " The Education of Farmers." 



Education, said Mr. Bartlett, is development and may be 

 divided into physical, moral, religious, and mental. 



The physical training a farmer finds in his work, the re- 

 ligious he left for the church and Sunday School and then 

 devoted his remarks to the mental. Man's progress in ed- 

 ucation has been uneven, but surely forward since the ear- 

 liest times. A certain amount of manual labor strength- 

 ens a man, while too much deadens his forces. Some peo- 

 ple educate their children merely to make a living — and 

 this is the curse of American life, this "Bread and Butter" 



