75 



lie on this subject — as an indication of the growing conviction in 

 the community at large, of the great benefits resulting from deep 

 and tJwrough ploughing. It is extremely desirable that every 

 farmer should understand how much both the qualitg and quantity 

 of crops are affected by rightly 2)reparing the soil for the recep- 

 tion of the seed. When it is considered, for example, that instead 

 of twenty or thirty bushels of corn to the acre, as was the common 

 crop under the former method of shallow ploughing, there can be 

 raised upon the same ground, under the present improved mode 

 of cultivation, forty, sixty, eighty, and in some cases even an hun- 

 dred bushels to the acre, the great advantage of the latter method 

 must be apparent to every candid and reflecting mind. And al- 

 though all do not adopt it, it is nevertheless a pleasing considera- 

 tion, that the number of those Avho do adopt it, is increasing. 



The former Lieutenant Governor Robbins, on a public occasion, 

 remarked, " that it was the work of an age to establish a princi- 

 pled It is the work of an age to introduce and establish a new 

 principle 'and practice in agriculture. We are now doing such a 

 work. Our Society, by its public exhibitions, by its annual re- 

 ports, and in various other ways, is affording essential aid toward 

 the accomplishment of this important object. 



Your Committee add, in conclusion, that it was to them a plea- 

 sant circumstance that the venerable Farmer of Quincy, although 

 he has seen more than fourscore years, was present on the ground 

 at the " Ploughing jMatch." He told us in the Hall, as it will be 

 remembered, that fifty years ago he was made a trustee of the 

 Massachusetts Agricultural Society. For a longer period he has 

 felt and manifested a deep interest in the advancement of this 

 cause. He has been a friend not only of this cause, but of every 

 cause that tends to ameliorate the condition of his fellow men. 

 And whether in the councils of the State or of the Nation, at the 

 head of the oldest University in the country, or in the walks of 

 private life, he has shed around him a good influence. His ex- 

 ample has been a benediction to this Society and the community. 

 Let the Society and community imitate that example, and all sim- 

 ilar examples. Then agriculture, and all the best arts and vir- 

 tues of life, will be cultivated and adorned. 

 Respectfully submitted, 



RALPH SANGER, Chairman. 



Dover, November, 1855. 



