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take in relation to farming. And when the statement is made, let the man 

 look and judge for himself, and not give us the lie. That is what I ask. 



Who pretends to know the origin and the cause of the potato rot? Why 

 has not every body known the cause long ago ? It is because they have 

 not attended to the subject properly. When I tell a man the cause, he 

 don't believe it. If I should state it here, I should be met with the reply, 

 "I don't believe it." ' 



Voices. " Let us have it." 



Mr. Whipple. You shall have it. But I shall run the risk of being 

 told, " I do not believe it," from every farmer in the hall. I complain of 

 that treatment. Before you tell me you do not believe it, I ask you to in- 

 vestigate it chemically and properly, and then tell me whether it is not 

 true. I can go into that question, though I suppose it is not in accordance 

 with the resolution. 



The President. The question is on the establishment of a Board of Agri- 

 cultural Commissioners and a Secretaryship. 



Mr. Whipple. What is the use of this 1 Why, they say they will give 

 a vast amount of information. Why, sir, who will read it? They may 

 write a long account of the potato rot, about its being caused by the influ- 

 ence of the atmosphere. Who will believe it ? I don't. Of what impor- 

 tance is it to send our children to Cambridge for an education ? Sir, it is all 

 theoretical. There is nothing practical there. Give us the practical skill, 

 and add whatever you choose in farming or any thing else. The potato rot 

 is the -result of an insect, which fixes itself upon the plant and destroys it. 

 Sir, if there be any gentleman here who does not believe it, I wish I could 

 have an opportunity to exhibit to him a sample that I have of a house plant. 

 I could there show you the insect. Every man who cultivates house plants 

 knows that they will die under the weight of insects unless they are kept off. 

 If these insects will kill the house plant, and if you find the same insect 

 upon the potato plant, why should not that die also ? * * * 



Mr. PAGE, of Bristol, made a few additional observations. 



Mr. BROWN, of Concord, made a short and practical speech, suggesting 

 that if the Secretary should only present a single new idea to his auditors 

 in each of his lectures, it would prove very* valuable to the farmers; illus- 

 trating his position by stating that if he should only teach them how to an- 

 alyse the soil in such a way as to be able to determine what are the con- 

 stituents of a given amount of earth, and what parts are wanting in order 

 to make it yield the largest crop of a certain article, an incalculable 

 amount of good would be derived by the community. 



The Convention then adjourned. 



