22 TRANSACTIONS. 



farmer planted corn where he could no longer raise wheat, 

 and when, by an ignorant and wretched system of exhaustion, 

 his soil was too poor for corn, he sowed barley or rye, and 

 when he could no longer raise rye he planted beans, and then 

 complained that he could raise nothing but beans ! 



He had no love or respect for his calling. He was indif- 

 ferent to selecting good breeds of stock and the best agricul- 

 tural seeds, and the consequence was, that he had poor and 

 miserable cattle, poor and miserable horses, and ideas poorest 

 and most miserable of all. These would seem to be good 

 reasons for the depression of agriculture, but in addition to all 

 this, the farmer often affected to despise all intelligent culti- 

 vation of the soil, and not only followed religiously the exam- 

 ple of his fathers, but advised others to do the same, thus 

 transmitting to us in the line of succession the very practices, 

 which his fathers had learned from the barbarous and uncivil- 

 ized Indian ! 



A few years after the Revolution, things began to wear a 

 brighter aspect. The benefits of combined and associated 

 effort were seen and felt by the few, who were in advance of 

 the age. 



The Massachusetts Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, 

 was established in 1792, a similar one having been established 

 in Philadelphia, in 1784, followed by a voluntary association 

 in New York, in 1791, which led to the establishment of an 

 incorporated society th^ere in 1793. These societies were 

 managed by mep of the most ardent and self sacrificing pa- 

 triotism, but owing either to the state of the times, or to their 

 defective and inefficient organization, they failed to excite 

 any spirit of emulation in the community. Their chief work 

 was the yearly publication of a book. The premiums which 

 they offered, could with difficulty be disposed of, and not one 

 it is said, was paid from the treasury of the Massachusetts So- 

 ciety, previous to 1811. The plowing match which the So- 

 ciety instituted at Brighton, in connection with its exhibition, 

 was started not with any idea of improving the plow, but 

 solely to try the strength and docility of the oxen. The plow 



