98 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Feb. / 



LEGISLATIVE AGRICULTUSAL 



MEETIKG. 



[Reported for the New England Farmer, by Thos. Bradley.] 



The first formal meeting for the session of the 

 Legislative Agricultural Societj' was held in the 

 Representatives' Hall at the State House, on Mon- 

 day evening. A large number were present, and 

 much interest was manifested in the proceedings. 



The meeting was called to order by Col. David 

 Heard, of Wayland, at 7 o'clock, and the com- 

 mittee appointed at the informal meeting the 

 week previous announced the following list of of- 

 ficers, and reported the annexed rules. 



President— ms Excellency, N. P. Banks. 



firi; Prefhk'iits— lion. II. W. Bishop, of Lenox ; Hon. Na- 

 thaniel Eddy, of Oxforl, and Col. P. Heard, of Wayland. 



Secretaries — Sir. Charles L. Flint, of Boston, and Mr. T. M. 

 Stoughton, of Gill. 



Executive Committee — Hon. SrwoN Brown, of Concord ; Messrs. 

 HiR.\M NASn, of Willi amsburg ; J. S. ELDRn)GE,of Canton ; Geo. 

 Haskell, of Ipswich, and Lewis Demond, of Ware. 



The following are the rules : 



RnLE I. — Speeches shall be limited to fifteen minutes each, 

 unless by unanimous consent of the meeting, o::cept in the case 

 of the President of the evening, who shall occupy what time he 

 may see fit. 



Rule II. — The officers chosen shall hold their offices during 

 the month of January, except the President, who shall be nomi- 

 nated each evening by the Executive Committee. 



Rule III. — It shall be the duty of the Executive Committee 

 to propose subjects, to nominate a President, and to invite 

 speakers each evening. 



The report was accepted. 



On taking the chair, His Excellency addressed 

 the meeting, alluding to the formation of the so- 

 ciety, and the objects to be gained Ijy such assem- 

 blages. Ho said there was no profession on which 

 the interests of the Commonwealth are so depend- 

 ent, none with which the prosperity of our people 

 is so closely allied, as agriculture. The question 

 which is presented for discussion is not only in- 

 teresting to the tiller of the soil, but to all others 

 — in a word it touches every interest in life ; it Is 

 not only the interests of the farmer, but the mer- 

 chant, scholar, mechanician and philosopher ; the 

 individual, the family, the State and the consoli- 

 dation of States are all dependent on agriculture. 



The question to be discussed this evening opens 

 a wide field, but I am not so well able to speak on 

 it as most of those present, and I shall not pre- 

 sume to occupy th* time of the meeting by giving 

 my crude views on the subject. 



Speaking of the question, "TF/iO^ will tend to 

 make agriculture projitahle and pleasant as a jnir- 

 suit ?" the speaker asked, Avhat is the general mo- 

 tive of men, and what controls them in business 

 afi'airs ? The profit of any pursuit may be found 

 in the acquisition of wealth or in the advanced 

 social position, and we are to determine what are 

 covered by the words of the subject, "profit and 

 pleasure." 



The Governor spoke of mercantile life, and the 



risk engaging in it entailed, and said that when a 

 man had tried everything else for a living and 

 failed, he comes back to the earth, his highest, 

 greatest and most lasting satisfaction, as there is 

 no other puisuit that presents so many sure 

 means of support as this. He admitted that 

 mercantile life dazzled our country youth, as, if 

 money was made in this, it was made more rapid- 

 ly, but it should be the aim of the society to instil 

 into the minds of young men and women the 

 pleasures of an agricultural life, and by showing 

 how it may be made profitable, create a pleasure 

 in it. He spoke in warm terras of gratification of 

 the objects of the society, and said that to show 

 the strong claims of agi'iculture, the best means 

 was by such meetings as these, repeated in vari- 

 ous ways and places. 



In conclusion, he assured the society of his deep 

 interest in the objects of the meeting, and hoped 

 that success would follow its deliberations. 



Hon. IL W. Bishop, of Lenox, next spoke. He 

 said there was a great diflticulty in bringing the 

 agriculturists of the State together ; they meet in 

 clubs, &c., covering a limited area, and when they 

 get such meetings as these we may all learn some- 

 thing valuable. The question for discussion was 

 new to him, but he felt pleasure in contemplating 

 it. The pleasures of agriculture none can detail, 

 as they are so numerous, and the profits could not 

 be enumerated in one evening. It had been well 

 said that riches could not be acquired fast by ag- 

 riculture, but what was of far more moment, they 

 were sure. Judge Bishop then spoke of the reli- 

 ance to be placed on the husbandman in case of 

 invasion or intestine commotion, and said that 

 not only by his money the State Avould be defend- 

 ed, but by his bone and sinew. The speaker said 

 he had passed the sixth decade, and from his expe- 

 ence he would advise every man with a family not 

 to leave agricultural pursuits in the hope of mak- 

 ing a rapid fortune in commerce, lest he bring 

 himself and family to penury. 



Passing to the consideration of the profits of 

 agriculture, he said that we must look to heaven 

 for these, and not to Congress. Heaven sends the 

 dews, clouds and seasons to grow and ripen the 

 crops, but Congress cannot give the slightest as- 

 sistance. We may be, and are encouraged, said 

 he, by legislation, and more particularly by those 

 modes recommended by the chairman, but no leg- 

 islation affects the crops. 



The speaker, alluding to the pleasures of agri- 

 culture, said there were no pleasures equal to 

 those of the man who had his acres unincumbered, 

 as he always would have his bread and meat, and 

 these pleasures the agi-iculturist may arrogate to 

 himself entirely. It has been said in days past, 

 over and over again, that agriculture Avas not aa 

 honorable profession, and that it was a slow way 



