202 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



DKC. 11, 1839. 



and horticultural register. 



Boston, Wednesdav, December U, 1839. 



- T ' ■ ■ 



WESTBORO' AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



We subjoin the Conelilulion of a Town Agricultural 

 Society lately formed in Westboro', one of the best far- 

 ming towns in the Stale, and containing in proportion to 

 its population, as large a number of inquisitive and well 

 informed farmers as any other. It is an omen of good, 

 and we wish that such a society were formed in every 

 town in the State ; or that where that might not be 

 found convenieni, that a society should be formed in 

 every half dozen towns within easy dislance of each 

 other. 



Such societies have been constituted at different times 

 in several towns in the State, and while conducted witli 

 spirit, were productive of great pleasure and great good. 

 But every thing useful in them must depend on their 

 being conducted with spirit, interest and punctuality. 

 The members must not suffer trifling matters to pre- 

 vent their attendance; and they must in the best sense 

 of the terms be glad to distribute and willing to commu- 

 nicate. They must be ready to detail their own expe- 

 rience ; and be willing to listen to the experience of oth- 

 ers. They must, in common parlance, ' give and lake.' 

 This supposes, however, tliat they have something to 

 give. This should induce them to read and to make 

 experiments; to inquire and observe. We say read. 

 We recollect very well when advice to farmers to read 

 would have been likely to have been met wiih a sneer 

 Those days are long since passed ; and instead of being 

 now as formerly ridiculous to commend book faiming, 

 the man only makes himself ridiculqusi, who talks against 

 it. 



By book farming in this case, we <»»nnotbe misunder- 

 stood, at least by the intelligent and- reflecting; and as 

 to those who are neither intelligent nor reflecting, it is 

 a hopeless undertaking to attempt to correct their opin- 

 ions. 



Agriculture in the main is a seience founded upon 

 facts. There certainly is no reason why these facts 

 should not be recorded and communicated in books ; 

 but there is this great advantage in its being so done 

 over mere oral communication, in thai the record of it 

 is likely to be much more exact. In oil our intercou.se 

 with farmers, we have found no reluctance in communi- 

 cating what they have done ; but many of these identi- 

 cal persons will speak with scorn of agricultural books 

 and papers; and yet most of these agricultural books 

 and papers communicate only what others have done. 



But the knowledge of mere facts and actual experi- 

 ments, connected with cultivation, is not all that is im- 

 portant in agriculture. Science in various departments 

 has an intimate connexion with agriculture. Chemis- 

 try has already rendered much, and promises to render 

 still more substantial aid to agriculture, it it intimate- 

 ly concerned with the nature of soils and uf manures ; 

 with the operations of heat and cold, of dryness and 

 moisture upon vegetation ; with many of the uses and 

 modes of preparation of vegetable products; and with 

 the influences of various substances in nature upon ani- 

 mal and vegetable life. We are not over sanguine in 

 our expectations of tiie advantages which ore to be de- 

 rived from the application of chemical science to agri- 

 culture, because wo perfectly understand that there is a 

 limit to the researches of man, beyond which his sagaci- 

 ty cannot penetrate. Chemistry may explain to us the 

 primary component parts ofdifTerent soils and manures, 

 and yet find it impossible so to combine these different 



properties and elements as to pn.duce the soil best and 

 most exactly fitted to advance vegetation in the most 

 perfect mariner ; as chemistry may be able to explain 

 with exactness the component parts of blood, and yet be 

 unable by the combination of any substances, in the 

 most cau'ful »nd exact manner, to produce a single per- 

 fect drop. Yet no one can doubt that chemistry, though 

 it rnay not accomplish all that might be desired, may 

 yet effect much tliatis useful, it may point out funda- 

 mental deficiencies in some soils which art can supply ; 

 redund::ncics in others which art can as easily remove; 

 and it may often detect the existence of mineral sub- 

 stances or acids, which operate as poison to vegetation, 

 Lut which could be detected nnd correc;ed by no other 

 means. 



The application of chemical science to ajriculture is 

 comparatively of recent date, and its advances are of 

 course imperfect; but we do not see why in respect to 

 manures for example, it may not presently enable us to 

 supply thom in an aitificial and concentrated form, so as 

 to dispense with an immense amount of labor whicli is 

 now necessary. 



Chemistry has already rendered an immense benefit 

 to agriculture, to mention no other case, in teaching 

 the art of manufacturing sugar from beets, and especial- 

 ly in the great improvements which have been introduc- 

 ed into this process, by which the expense of the manu- 

 facture is greatly reduced and the amount per centage 

 obtained is very much increased. The process of refin- 

 ing the product is likewise a chemical operation, in 

 which science has lent its aid to the greatest advantage. 



We might illustrste the importance and advantages of 

 science to agriculture in various other respects ; not 

 only of chemistry but of botany, of mechanics, of mine- 

 ralogy, of comparative anatomy, of the veterinary art, 

 and in truth of every department of natural science. All 

 knowledge of this kind, to say nothing of its value as a 

 means ot"enjoyment and a source of the highest pleasure 

 and improvement, has a direct bearing upon cultivation, 

 general husbandry, and agricultural improvement. 



Tlie farmer likewise is directly concerned in the sci- 

 ence of political economy. He is a citizen, and as such 

 has responsible duties to discharge to the community. 

 If the cultivator of large products, he is interested in all 

 questions relating to the protection of domestic industry ; 

 in the commerce which deals in the large products of 

 agriculture, and in which the trade of the world is con- 

 corned. 



I'he farmer likewise is deeply concerned in every 

 thing connected with education and the improvement of 

 the mind. 'Knowledge is power'; physical power; 

 moral power. Knowledge is pleasure. The mind was 

 made for the acquisition of knowledge as much as the 

 body was made to desire food. In proportion as educa- 

 tion, intellectual education, proceeds among the farmers, 

 their perceptions are sharpened, their judgment strength- 

 ened and improved ; and all this will have an immedi- 

 ate and most useful bearing upon their great art as well 

 as upon their personal character. In proportion as edu- 

 cation advances among the farmers, their rank as a class 

 in society is at once advanced ; their self-respect stimu- 

 lated and their ambition of excellence in their particular 

 pursuit awakened. In proportion as education advan- 

 ces, a new and inexhaustible source of pleasure is con- 

 tinually unfolding itself to them ; and their intervals of 

 leisure instead of being devoted to low sensual indul- 

 gences or squandered in inaction and stupidity, -will be- 

 coTie fruitful in innocent pleasures and improvements. 



Under these circumstances we recommend books to 

 farmers. We think associations of the kind which we 

 here notice, may be made eminently instrumental not 

 only of direct improvement in the practical parts of the 



art by inducing experiments and by the communicatinj 

 of these experiments to eacli other, and by exciting i 

 spirited emulation in an art and pursuit where rivalrj 

 and emulation can possibly do no harm; but also b; 

 leading to mental improvement ; by stimulating Intel 

 lectual and scientific inquiry, not only in all those bran 

 dies of knowledge which bear either directly or indirect 

 ly upon the art itself, but in every thing which may coo 

 tribute to the improvement, the consequent respectabiU 

 ty and happiness of rural life. It would be therefor* 

 exceedingly desirable to connect with such an associa 

 tion a good social library of practical work.s, so that thi 

 members may be induced to read, may gratify their lov 

 of knowledge; and by storing their own minds within 

 formation from experiment, inquiry, and study, will bi 

 able to render such meetings interesting and instructive 



These objects will be aimed at as we hope in thi 

 Westboro' association, and that in these respects the; 

 will present a bright and useful example to their brothe 

 farmers. We know there are men engaged in it wh 

 have an intelligent and just appreciation of the object 

 of such an association which we have pointed out; an< 

 are not wanting in spirit to further these objects. 



We hope we may be allowed to make one or tw 

 more suggestions. We say then let such an association 

 composed as it will of course be by the farmers of th 

 same town, all neighbors and friends, be open to th 

 women. Let them come in. They take an importan 

 part in our agriculture. The dairy business, the sill 

 business, and the poultry yard belong immediately t 

 their province ; and it would be of the greatest impor 

 tance if our countrywomen could be made interested i: 

 every branch and operation of husbandry. To say noth 

 ingof the pleasure which they mi^ht find in such assc 

 ciations, the fact that women by reason of death or acci 

 dent, are often left in the care of large farms, would fin 

 great advantages from such knowledge as they migh 

 here obtain or be induced to seek; and would in thi 

 way become much better fitted to be the helpmates c 

 intelligent and enterprising men. We have the ploasur 

 to know several admirable instances in the common 

 wealth, where women may be said to have made them 

 selves thorough masters in this matter; and of some wi 

 dows left with a numerous family of children dependan 

 upon them, who have managed large estates which oth 

 erwise must have been sacri.'iced by a compulsory sale 

 with excellent skill and success, and have thus kep 

 their families together. 



Onemore suggestion, which is, the hope that tlit 

 Westboro' Society will provide annually for a lowr 

 show, of live stock, «f dairy produce, and of householc 

 manufactures. Wherever these shows have been intro- 

 duced and maintained with spirit, they liave been pro 

 ductive of the best and most lasting effects. But wf 

 have already extended these remarks much farther ihar 

 we at first designed ; and proceed to give the Constitu- 

 tion of the Society. H. C. 

 PREAMBLE. 



Impressed with the importance o( the great improve- 

 ments that may be made in Agriculture, and convinced 

 that a society of agriculturists can more easily as well 

 as more expeditiously than individuals, collect and dis- 

 tribute such inl"ormation as cannot but tend to increase 

 the product and improve the soil of our country — we 

 whose names are hereunto subscribed, have associated 

 ourselves (together with such others as may join us in 

 conformity to such rules of admission as are now or 

 hereafter may be adopted,) into a society for improve- 

 ments in agriculture, and to be governed by the lollow- 



'"* CONSTITUTION. 



Art. 1. The association shall be known by the 

 name of the "Agricultural Society of Westboro' and 

 Vicinity." 



