PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION 

 The Present XA/ant of Agriculture, 



Mr. President, and Members of the Housatonic Society : 



From your various homes among the beautiful hills of Southern Berk- 

 shire you have assembled to recount the achievements of another season of 

 toil ; to witness with laudable pride the rich display of the products of 

 your skill and industry ; and, while enjoying the recreation of your 

 annual festival, to secure if possible, some substantial good for your own 

 personal, or professional advancement. To such an audience it were su- 

 perfluous to rehearse the oft repeated praises of rural life, or to restate the 

 manifold advantages of agriculture as a business for young persons of in- 

 telligence, sound judgment, and reasonable expectations. There are here 

 many industrious, successful and contented men and women, who know from 

 observation and their own happy experience, that all the essential comforts 

 of life may be more easily and more certainly procured by farmers than by 

 any other class of American citizens. Among the outward circumstances 

 which contribute to human happiness doubtless all right minded individuals 

 would enumerate, as of primary importance, pure air, bright sunshine, and 

 pleasant scenery ; wholesome food, delicious fruits, and charming flowers ; 

 instructive and entertaining books, and delightsome music ; comely and 

 comfortable clothing, tasteful and convenient buildings and furniture ; lov- 

 ing and intelligent friends, and an abundance of healthful, agreeable, and 

 remunerative employment ; and these are the natural possessions of the 

 properly educated and truly enterprising husbandman. The country homes 

 of Massachusetts are indeed too often sadly deficient in these elements of 

 comfortable living, but it is not the fault of agriculture as an occupation. 

 These things are freely offered to every farmer who desires to have them, and 

 neither wealth, nor political power, nor extraordinary talent, is necessary 

 for their acquisition. The great majority of our race must be in the future, 

 as they have been from the beginning, tillers of the soil, producers of food, 

 and of the necessary material for commerce aud manufactures ; but they 

 need not be ignorant and devoid of taste. 



