Transactions of the Essex Agricultural Society from .
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UMASS/AMHERST IlilllllMIII aiEObboosflDSbsa '^^\ ^Kl rJ: V'. y-7% J5 •-X i^ ' ^\ 'mk' h"' !»•<«;■ JM» ' ^ Sf^ » \'. i.^r '-M--^ '^- "^^-^.afflt^ V' :,?,^ ' J 7 V- ;g&j-fy /l^^c. " 6'/ 'J- '' r" ^fR<;t-< DATE DUE UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS LIBRARY S 74 E8E8 1 881 -85 TRiVisrs^CTioisrs OF THE Essex Agricultural Society, IN MASSACHUSETTS, FOR THE YEAR 1881, WITH THE FIFTY-NINTH ANNUAL ADDRESS, BY DR. JAMES E. NICHOLS, OF HAVERHILL. PUBLISHED BY OEDER OF THE SOCIETY. SALEM, MASS.: OBSERVER STEAM PRINTING ESTABLISHMENT, 188L u iWil- \%li\ r r *>« su— AMHERST, MASS, 1 'ggi -"55: What Science has Accomplished for Farmers. AN ADDRESS BY DR. JAMES R. NICHOLS, HAVERHILL, MASS. ADDRESS. INTRODUCTORY. The occurrences of to-day mark an anniversary which to me is specially interesting. In 1855 the annual Fair of the Essex iSociety was held in this city, (then a town of six thousand inhabitants,) and I was appointed to deliver the address. It is therefore a quarter of a century since I had the honor of presenting to you my first address upon an agri- cultural topic. I say to you ; but it is painfully evident that this remark has but a limited application. In looking over this assemblage of the farmers of Essex, the faces of many are missed who were prominent in the management of the Society twenty-five years ago. The organization remains, but many of those who met in 1855 in this audience room have been kindly taken into the bosom of mother Earth, the final resting place and home of us all. The harvests of grasses, and cereals, and tubers, which we have so industriously gath- ered for many years, have proved unequal and uncertain ; but the harvest which the relentless hand of death reaps every day and every hour is certain and abundant, and no one can escape the scythe of the great mower who is noiselessly approaching, and who is very close to many of us. The sus- tained prosperity and success of this ancient and honorable society, presents a good illustration of the real insignificance 6 of individuals in holding up any useful and important enter- prise. What appears to be the pillars or foundation stones of edifices drop out, but the buildin.^s do not fall. Without disorder and without notice the old supports are replaced by- even stronger and better material, and the good work of benevolence or instruction continues. However reverently and approvingly we gaze upon the past, we look to the future with unfaltering hope and confidence. A quarter of a century ago there was more than a suspicion lurking in the minds of the fathers of this Society, that science had aids to offer to practical husbandmen ; and this explains perhaps, how it happened, that a laboratory worker, inexperienced in rural affairs was selected to address them at their annual Cattle Show and Fair. THE TOPICS DISCUSSED. In looking over the annual reports of the society, I find the address of 1855 to be devoted to a consideration of the rela- tions of Science to Agriculture ; to-day you are invited to a review of what science has accomplished for farmers and the farming interests. In discussing this topic, the moral and social benefits which science has conferred upon husbandmen will be first considered ; secondly, the material aids which it has afforded ; and lastly, as incidental to the topic, some observations and suggestions regarding farmers' education will be presented. THE FORMER SOCIAL CONDITION OF FARMERS. Whilst it is manifest that science in its researches, practical appliances, and suggestions, has ameliorated the social and moral condition of all classes in all parts of the civilized globe, it seems to me that husbandmen of all others have reason to be most devoutly thankful to science for benefits received. This is due to the circumstances under which they are forced to live by their calling, and to their intimate contact with nature in the' external world. They have from times far remote resided apart from cities, from the centres of dense population, and been compelled to spend their lives in rural retirement. Hence the mind has had much less support from social association and sympathy than has fallen to the lot of others, and in times of ignorance and superstition they were the greatest sufferers. Living comparatively alone, without books, without any clear understanding of the operations of nature, they became moody, timid slaves to superstitious fears. Let any one read the history of the witchcraft delusions in various towns of New England, or of the religious hates and persecutions prevailing in the last century and consider what it was to live in that unprogressed age. It is indeed difficult to comprehend the mental status, the mind sufiering of our ancestors, living in an age when science offered no aid, no generous help to earnest inquiring men and women, or to any one even among those best educated. Movements and changes of the forces of nature, which we now look upon without con- cern, or regard as beneficent and necessary, they interpreted 8 as indicative of (iiabolical or divine malevolence, and thus their minds were filled with dark forebodings. They were on the lookout for signs and omens, signs on the earth, in the earth, among animals and in the heavens. The pigs must be slaughtered in the right phase of the moon so that tlie pork would not shrink in the pot, and the howling of a dog under a window was ominous of an early death in the family. The religious hate of that age is illustrated in the case of Thomas Macy of Salisbury, who, in 1658, was fined 30 shillings for sheltering three Quakers about twenty minutes in a heavy rain storm. The records of the neighboring town of Andover indicate the horrible condition of domestic life in the treatment of those charged with the crime of witchcraft during the continuance of the delusion. It is impossible to adequately realize the terror which a severe thunder storm caused in most families in New England in times prior to the advent of Franklin. Not a single intelligible or reasonable explanation had been given of the cause or nature of electrical phenomena, and people were com- pelled to observe in awe and superstitious fear, a display of electrical activities, now clearly understood by every school boy. A severe thunder storm was generally regarded as a special manifestation of God's anger, and when, in obedience to law, electrical discharges occurred, taking the human body in their pathway, such occurrences were viewed as indications of the divine displeasure towards the unfortunate individual. The fear of God's wrath, as manifested not only in thunder- bolts, but in almost every untoward event or accident, tor- mented our ancestors, engaged in their rural avocations, to a degree of suffering of which we can form no adequate idea. Celestial visitants and appearances, as comets, eclipses, the 9 aurora, &c., were all viewed as special divine interferences, presaging calamities, as war, pestilence or famine. A farmer of Essex, living at the beginning of the last century, would have been agitated with terror had he cast his eyes upward to the skies and discovered a fiery object in the heavens like the one upon which we bestowed so much interest during the last summer months. He could look for no morning newspaper which would explain the nature of the terrifying object, nor was there any source from which a ray of light could be ob- tained. If he turned from the painful object in the skies, to his own surmisings, he gazed into a dark void, which had neither beginning nor ending. Meteorological changes and movements were likewise pro- ductive of much apprehension and fear. In seasons of ex- treme drought or flood, upon occurrences of early frosts, when the harvests were in danger, deep gloom pervaded the hearts of all. The loss of a harvest, in those days, meant real suffering, and possibly famine and death. We are pelulant and complaining, if our crops partially or wholly fail, but we are not tormented with fear of famine with all its dreadful consequences. Our facilities of communication are such, thanks to science and art, that we are able to speedily com- mand the crop resources of any portion of a continent reach- ing through many degrees of latitude and many climates, so that failure in them all is impossible. We live in the pleasing consciousness that a want of food is a calamity not probable to continue long enough to cause serious alarm in any part of the country. THE UNIVERSE GOVERNED BY LAW. The discovery that the movements and operations in nature 2 10 spring from law, and not from caprice or blind chance, has had a benificent influence upon the world. It is a discovery of great interest to all in every condition in life. The obser- vance of the growth of a plant as it gradually emerges from the embrace of the parent germ in the earth, and lifts itself up under the control of law, into the air and sunshine, is well calculated to fill the mind not only with astonishment, but with delight. The growth of a plant is not a miracle, it is not in any sense supernatural, and the deep mystery which formerly hung like a cloud over the movements in plant life has been cleared away, and the chemistry of the changes of molecules of matter in the formation of vegetable cells is now clearly understood. We no longer are under the control of terrors and delusions ; science has pointed out that we live under the reign of law, that there is order in the universe of matter and mind, that God himself is the author and sustainer of law, and that he does not govern the world by special inter- ferences or by supreme conceit. As farmers, we understand, that in emergencies, we are expected to lielp ourselves. In its agricultural aspects as well as in all others, the cradle epoch of the world's history has passed away, ignorance with evils so great as to render rural life a burden has been sup- planted by the great facts of science and art. HOME LIFE IN A FORMER AGE. Probably no one of the industrial classes has been more beneficently influenced in their domestic or home life, by scientific knowledge, than farmers. This subject is exceed- ingly interesting, made so from a knowledge of the wonderful changes which have occurred in the past century, changes which have produced a complete revolution in all domestic 11 affairs and household comforts. Those of us whoso memory extends over more than a half century, probably have a very correct idea of the character of the homes at the time the guns of Lexington startled the colonies as by an electric shock. There are a few of the old houses still standing in the countrv which have battled with the storms of a hundred years, and now, like the old " one horse shay" of Dr. Holmes, have about them " A general flavor of mild decay." The houses have an interior arrangement suggestive of cold discomfort, and combine but few conveniences for the benefit of the family. In 1775 and thereabouts, the science of chem- istry in fact had no existence. No special attention had been given to geology, and what was known of botany, astronomy &c., seems as nothing compared with the extent and accuracy of our present knowledge. But little progress had been made in invention and the arts, hardly one of the modern contri- vances for cooking and warming and lighting dwellings was known, not a pound of coal or a drop of kerosene oil, had been burned in the country. No iron stoves were used, and no contrivances for economizing heat were employed until Dr. Franklin invented the iron frame fire-place, which still bears his name. All the cooking and warming was done by the aid of fire kindled upon the brick hearth, or in the brick oven. Pine knots or tallow candles furnished the light for the long winter evenings, and sanded floors supplied the place of rugs and carpets. The water used for household purposes was drawn from deep wells by the creaking " sweep," and it is a curious circumstance that both the wells and the out buildings were often at long distances from the house. In a cold, windy 12 night in winter, to be called towards either of them was some- thing dreadful to think of. No form of pump was used in this country, so far as I can learn, until after the commencement of the present century. There were no friction matches in those early days, by the aid of which a fire could be speedily kindled ; and if the fire " went out" upon the hearth over- night, and the tinder was damp, so that the spark would not " catch," the alternative remained of wading through the snow a mile or so, to borrow a brand from a neighbor. Only one room in any house was warmed (unless some of the family were ill) ; in all the rest the temperature was at zero during many nights in winter. The men and women of a hundred years ago undressed and retired to their beds at night in an atmosphere colder than that of our modern barns and woodsheds. No furnaces or steam-pipes tempered the wintry air in their dwellings, but they probably slept soundly in the cold, even after eating heartily of shag-barks or butternuts, and washing them down with a quart or two of hard cider. The cooking was very simple, and the nature of the food plain and substantial. But few dishes were seen upon the table ', pork and cabbage, corn bread, and milk, with " bean porridge," were the every day forms of food consumed. If, however, science has accomplished much for farmers and farmers' wives in household comforts and conveniences, it has not added much to the material or pecuniary independence of the family. Scientific progress and invention has taken away those homely industrial occupations which were the prop and stay of our fathers and mothers of a century ago. Winter life on the farm and in the dwelling has been thoroughly revolu- tionized, but not beneficially so. 13 WINTER LIFE OF FARMERS. The active work of farmers and their families was not in any degree suspended in winter until within a period of a third of a century. Indeed, the hardest labor of the year was per- formed by them in cold weather ; they no more thought of housing themselves when the snows came than of living by begging or stealing. The country was comparatively new, and there were clearings to be made, logs to be cut, wood to be hauled, stone walls to be built (for many of our common field walls were put up in the dead of winter; the ways were to be kept clear of snow obstructions ; corn was to be shelled and taken long distances to mill ; the cows, oxen, horses, and sheep were to be fed, and the pigs looked after. There were no idle hours for the farmers of a generation ago in winter ; and the same may be said of the women and children in-doors. All was hurry in the kitchen from early daylight to sunset ; and when the evening darkness came on, the knitting, spinning, darning, and patching continued until eight or nine o'clock, when all went tired to bed. The cloth- ing worn by the family was of domestic make, fabrics of linen as well as of wool. The wool was taken from the backs of the sheep, scoured, carded, spun, woven, and dyed, on the farm premises. The bark of the butternut afforded a favorite tint of yellow-brown ; and chipped logwood and copperas, bought of the distant grocer, gave the inky black suited to garments for Sunday use. The hum of industry never ceased in the dwellings of the earlier race of farmers, except at night and on the " Lord's Day." But a great change has occurred, and now farmers have be- come, so far as winter life is concerned, a kind of hibernating 14 animal, like the bears and frogs in the woods and marshes. Coal has taken the place of wood to a large extent even in the country, so there is little chopping to be done ; there are no walls to build, no heavy timber to haul, but little corn to husk or shell, few sheep and cows to feed, and but little marketing to do. When the first snow-storm spreads its white mantle over the face of mother earth, all is hushed and silent around most of our farm homesteads. The crowing of a solitary cock, perched upon the barnyard fence, seems to be almost a pain- ful intrusion upon the general silence. As regards the family, the boys are not seen around the chopping-block, or on the hay-mow ; the girls are seldom seen at the windows with their knitting-work, or in the snow path leading to the barn, with milk-pail in hand. The boys are away at school, or serving as clerks in some city store ; the girls, if at home, sit listlessly about the red-hot parlor stove, discontented, lonely, with " nothing to do." And really, there is very little they can do ; there is no wool to card or spin, no flax to run into threads, no industrial labor that will give them even a small return in ready money. The large factories do all the spinning and weaving, and make all the bonnets, stockings, and under and outer garments ; and willing hands in isolated homes find no remunerative employment. The great want of the age is some industrial labor which can be performed at farm homesteads, and in the dwellings of the poor, so that a little money can be earned at home. In the progress of events, we have the ex- pectation that some new avenues of industry will be opened in this direction, and when this occurs a blessing will rest upon thousands of happy homes. The discouraged state in which large number of farmers and farmers' families live, is due in a great measure to the 15 prostrating influence of winter life. They do not come out well in the spring, the nerves are weak, the digestion is impaired, and the mind is cloudy. There is really no valid excuse for this unmanly, unstrung condition. The times have changed, progress has certainly done away with old employ- ments and industries, but it has not closed up avenues to new ones. The trouble is, in the changing of the times, farmers have not changed with them. Every hour of winter could be profitably employed if they would properly understand their resources and capabilities. A higher education is what is needed. MATERIAL INTERESTS PROMOTED BY SCIENCE. The material interests of the farmer have been most signally benefitted or promoted by science, and specially so in recent times. It has pointed out better methods of tilling our lands, increasing dairy products, better methods of fattening cattle ; it has given us improved breeds of domestic animals, im- proved implements, improved grasses and cereal products, improved fruits of all kinds, and an immense number of new varieties ; it has taught us the importance of underd raining, and how to reclaim bogs and wet meadows ; it has given us hay caps, and silos, poisons for our insect pests, and a thou- sand other things little and great, which I will not attempt to enumerate. Perhaps the greatest service of science is in the direction of providing new forms of plant food from new sources of supply. No matter with how much enthusiasm and intelligence a farmer pursues his calling, he can liave but in- different success unless he provides for his crops ample sup- plies of foods suited to their wants. He may dig and pul- verize his soil, furnish plenty of water, and sow the soundest 16 seeds, unless the sprouting plant finds within easy reach some- thing to feed upon it must languish and die. A generous and full supply of plant food lies at the very basis of successful husbandry. In the address of a quarter of a century ago the matter of fertilizers was considered at some length, and it is interesting to contrast the extent of our knowledge then and now. We knew then, that nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash, consti- tuted the great fundamentals of plant nutrition, but it was not known that any abundant and available sources of supply ex- isted outside of animal excrement and waste organic sub- stances. In speaking upon this topic in the address, the want of increased fertilizing materials is dwelt upon, and whilst deploring the existence of this great want, it was confidently predicted that it would be supplied. The language used is as follows : " We can hardly doubt as regards the abundant re- sources of nature or cherish a hesitating faith in respect to a future supply of all our wants in feeding the crops upon our farms. It must be that mother earth holds within her bosom all the materials needed to produce sustenance for man, and I feel confident that chemistry, which holds the key which has unlocked many rich chambers in the storehouse of nature, will open others fully capable of supplying all the wants of the husbandmen." Since these remarks were made in the hearing of some of you, the science of chemistry has produced the key, unlocked, and thrown wide open the doors to nature's vast storehouses in which arc found inexhaustible supplies of phosphoric acid, potash and nitrogen. How interesting is the fact, that no special favor or partiality has been shown to any section of the earth, in the distribution of these invaluable treasures. Vast 17 stores of phosphoric rocks had been found in Russia, Spain, France, the United States, and to some extent in England. During all the centuries, down to the last half of the present, these repositories of phosphoric acid had remained unrecog- nized. In Russia it is known that the very stones used for building purposes, paving streets, and for wells, and which were regarded as detestable ground incumbrances in some sections, contained in great abundance the precious elements of plant nutrition. In this country, in the region near Charles- ton, South Carolina, the phosphatic nodules had long been noticed on the surface of the low basin lands, and the farmers whose fields were suffering for the food these rocks contained treated them as nuisances to be got rid of in the easiest way possible. In Russia, the extent of country covered by these stones is estimated by Prof. Englehardt to exceed 10,000 square miles. In Spain there are mountains of phosphatic rocks not easily reached at present, and at Charleston, the area of nodule beds is larger than the whole state of Rhode Island. THE CHARLESTON PHOSPHATE BEDS. A visit to this locality two years ago, gave me great pleasure and a fund of interesting information. Geologically speaking, the region is in every respect remarkable. It is a vast basin, covered with mud and silt, and formerly open to the inflow of the tide. In this region are found the most wonderful remains of ancient and extinct species of animals. There are whole acres richly studded with fossils. Among these have been rec- ognized the bones of the mammoth, mastodon, megatherium, mylodon, magalonyx, phocodon, several varieties of the sauri ; also teeth and bones of the shark and numerous other fishes 3 18 in great variety ; with teeth and bones of the horse, dog, sheep, ox, and hog, differing but little, if at all, from those belong- ing to our present domestic animals. Pieces of pottery, too, have been found, together with stone hatchets, all in the same bed, almost identical in their character with similar remains found some years since, near Abbeville, in France. There have also been found one or two human bones, though the evi- dence on this point is somewhat defective. This strange collection, this miniature sepulchre of the ages, where animals extinct sleep side by side with others, the an- cestors, perhaps, of our daily companions ; where men, beasts, reptiles, and fishes would seem to have found a common grave, — these fossils occur in the postpliocene strata. In a heap of the rocks, representing, perhaps, a couple of cords, I found fragments of deers' horns, perfect sharks' teeth, and numerous other fossils of more or less interest. In an- swer to the question, What is the history of this great sea- basin ? I have little to say, as nothing is positively known regarding it. All rests upon conjecture, and of the hypotheses which have been presented some are so preposterous as to be unworthy of mention. That vast numbers of marine and land animals have in past ages been here entombed does not admit of a doubt. The evidence upon this point is conclusive. It may have been for some reason very enticing foraging ground for the two classes of animal life, and here they found common graves. It could not have been by any sudden entombment, as it is not probable that such immense numbers could have been congregated at any one time. The burials must have extended over great epochs, and those very far in the past. The reck nodules holding the phosphates are detached 19 masses of rounded form, and correspond in size with our New England cobble-stones. They are formed out of the bones and fossil remains by solution, and subsequent aglutination, and rolled into small masses by the action of waves upon ancient sea beaches. I have never been so forcibly impressed with the evidence of design, specific and direct, as when studying these most interesting deposits. No one who has not looked into the subject, can form any adequate idea of the extent of man- ufacture and commerce which has grown out of this discovery- The commerce of the port of Charleston has been immensely increased. Vessels are continually arriving with cargoes of sulphur, guano, fish pomace, etc., and many are departing loaded with the rock and manufactured phosphates. England has thus far been the largest consumer, and English manufac- turers have houses established in Charleston devoted to the interests of the trade. The value of the fertilizers shipped in 1870, three years after the discovery, was upwards of two millions of dollars. It is stated that the yearly production at the present time is about 300,000 tons of fertilizers, two-thirds of which is exported to England, and only one-third consumed at home. Chemistry has pointed out that not a plant exists upon the earth which has not need for phosphoric acid, and when soils were in danger of losing their normal supply, it brought to view the significant fact that rocks piled almost upon our door- steps held it in inexhaustible quantities. Thus science has benefited agriculture in supplying this element of plant food. What has it done for the others ? NITROGEN AND POTASH. Nitrogen, the most expensive and hitherto the hardest to 20 obtain of the tliree important constituents of plant food, has been presented to us in several new combinations derived from formerly unknown sources. The natural nitre beds of Chili have, during the past twenty years, supplied vast quanti- ties of nitrate of Soda, and I am happy to be able to state that information has just been received from Dr. Hanlis, State Mineralogist of California, that immense beds of nitrate of Soda have been discovered in Nevada at Brown's station, Hambott Desert. This addition to the mineral resources of our marvellous country is one of great importance, and has a direct bearing upon the future agricultural interests of the nation. Beside the nitric acid salts, nitrogen is furnished in sulphate of ammonia which comes principally from the gas manufacturers. The herring fisheries on our own and other coasts, supply enormous quantities of dried fish pomace, which is rich in nitrogen. The entire waste organic products of our cities and large towns which hold abundance of nitrogen in available forms will soon be utilized, as recent experiments promise success in this direction. Most important of all, perhaps, is the reasonable expectation that the vast ocean of gaseous nitrogen in the air, will be fixed in certain combina- tions, so as to be made available for the uses of husbandmen. Chemistry is at work upon this problem, and the outlook is liopeful to say the least. What of potash, the third in the trio? I have only to point out to you the enormous production of this alkali, at the salt mines in Germany, a quantity so large as to influence prices of potash combinations the world over. Notwithstanding the increased consumption in agriculture and the arts, and the failure of supplies from wood ashes, the price of potashes has greatly declined during the past fifteen years, and it is proba- 21 ble that still farther decrease in prices will occur. In the crude muriate, and to some extent in kainite, we have pre- sented potash in available forms for agricultural purposes at comparatively low rates. Twenty-five years ago, this source of the agent was entirely unknown. Science has pointed out correct methods of combining these substances to fit them for farm use, and they have been em- ployed in enormous quantities, rendering our lands fertile and increasing our crops. During the past twenty years, I have prepared and used on my farm nearly one hundred tons of artificial fertilizers, and the employment of domestic manures has been to a large extent dispensed with. Not a load of animal manure has been purchased, and the farm, I think, will compare favorably with others in the county in condition and productiveness. The pressure of a strong temptation is felt to extend remarks upon the most important topic of farm fertilization, but time and the scope of this address forbid. INFLUENCE OF SCIENCE UPON FRUIT CROPS. Prominent among the benefits conferred by science is the improvement of our fruit crops. It does not require a mem- ory extending over many years to recall a period when the apple was confined almost exclusively to varieties suited only to cider making ; and, as regards pears, until within thirty years none of the really good varieties were known upon our farms. Peaches we had to some extent, but the fruit was acid and imperfect. Fifty years ago, not a single horticultural society existed in the United States, and there were but few agricultural societies ; now there are more than fifteen hun- dred state and county organizations. At that period the products of our soil were so insignificant as not to be thought 22 worthy a place in the statistics of our industry ; now our exports amount to more than six hundred millions of dollars annually. Of apples alone, we exported last year one million three hundred thousands in value, and of canned fruits nearly one million. As regards the soft fruits, strawberries and raspberries, I do not remember to have seen cultivated varieties until long after reaching adult age. Now we have of straw- berries alone cultivated in gardens, more than three hundred and fifty distinct varieties. Of grapes we formerly had none but those which grew wild in the swamps ; now we have about one hundred varieties under cultivation, and grape culture is an industry of immense importance. We are rapidly ap- proaching a time when this country will be the greatest wine producing region in the world. Of pears we have now more than eight hundred and ninety varieties, and on many farms and in many gardens this noble fruit is grown in such abun- dance as to become almost a waste product. Our county of Essex is peculiarly adapted for fruit growing, and it has become a source of considerable revenue to farmers. We have not been able to supply our markets with peaches in late years, but I confidently believe that we have entered upon a cycle of time when this fruit will not continue to fail us. Disease in the tree and fruit, caused perhaps by insects, is a greater obstacle to contend with than climate. AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. In any statement of the benefits which science has conferred upon the farming interests, the inference must naturally follow that very many farmers have not secured or participated in the benefits so freely and generously offered. This arises from several circumstances and obstacles. Some are naturally dis- inclined to examine into new methods and new discoveries ; they prefer the old ways, and have little confidence in anything new ; others are too indifferent to give attention to that which requires a little thought and the exercise of discriminating judgment. There are farmers, as well as men in other pur- suits, who seem to have been born under the influence of evil planets ; their dish, so to speak, is always wrong side up. They come into the world the discouraged offspring of perliaps 24 discouraged mothers, and their mental feebleness unfits them to command advantages which the world offers. But the greatest obstacle is a want of proper instruction, the want of some elementary training in the principles of science to afford a foothold for independent investigation and self culture. The whole theory of agricultural education is based on the idea that farmers' boys and the young men must be educated by attending some agricultural college, so called, for a term of years ; but the farmers themselves, the real workers in the field, may be left to obtain light and help from the profitless disputes and endless discussions, common in farmers' clubs and institutes. This is manifestly all wrong, and I am cer- tain, gentlemen, you will sustain me in so judging. It is an erroneous view that men in middle life, and those further advanced, are incapable or not willing to be instructed accurately in those branches of scientific knowledge which give to modern husbandry all its important advantages. The young men may attend the agricultural colleges, or any other institutions of learning, and be greatly benefitted by a pro- longed course of study, but we need another kind of college — 2i. farmer'' s colleg-e, where the practical workers can be gradu- ated without diplomas, at the end of a brief course of instruc- tion extending over a few days or weeks. The language of science and its methods seem to most as unintelligible and very difficult to be learned. It is so to a cer- tain extent, but abstract science need not belearned. It would be absurd to attempt to teach a middle-aged workingman fully regarding chemical symbols and formulas, but you can teach him how to estimate the money value of a fertilizing com- pound offered for sale in the markets. How few the purchasers who are competent to sit down in a store before a bag of that 25 apocryphal mixture called '' superphosphate," and from the labels or stencillings which purport to present a statement of the nature of the compound, obtain any clear information of its constitution or actual value? Every farmer certainly ought to be able to do this for his own protection, and there is no good reason why he cannot. These views are based on many years spent in scientific investigation and technical work, and in conducting the aflairs of an experimental farm. From intimate association with practical husbandmen in many parts of the country, I am convinced that they can easily acquire the leading facts and principles in any department of science, if right methods of instruction are adopted, and it is a wrong view which con- fines instruction to youth, and ignores the busy working middle-aged man who is hungering for light and knowledge. A farmers' school. I will endeavor to present a brief outline of a school of instruction for farmers which has been carefully considered, and regarded as practicable. To afford a clearer understand- ing, it may be assumed that a school has been established at Danvers, Andover, Salem, Haverhill, or some other cojivenient point, for the benefit of the farmers of Essex. The building in which the school is held may be a hall with convenient rooms attached, such as is found in several of the cities and larger towns, or it may be a building specially con- structed, inexpensive but comfortable, with lecture room, general meeting room, and another which can be improvised for a laboratory. Two terms are held each year, one in June at the close of the planting season, the other in December and each continues during two weeks. The instruction is 4 26 mainly by familiar, practical lectures continuing one hour, and eacli fully illustrated by experiments, specimens, models, plants, seeds, etc., so as to convey to the eye as well as to the ear, a clear understanding of the topic considered. They are scientific lectures presented after scientific methods, difleriug only in the use of language. That is employed which is adapted to non-scientific minds. There are six of these les- sons every day, and during the week of six working days, there would be thirty-six lectures, and in the term of two weeks, seventy-two. There are six upon chemistry, elementary and applied, each lecture profusely illustrated by experiments ; six upon the microscope, its use and application to husbandry. By means of the solar microscope and the electric lamp, most beautiful and instructive lessons are given. Six lessons upon fertilizers, domestic and commercial, illustrated by experiments, in com- pounding and preparing for farm use, &c. Six lectures upon how plants feed, and how plants grow. Six lectures upon the history of soils, their origin, formation, &c. Six upon dairy products, milk, cream, butter and cheese. These comprise the course for the first week, summer term, and are presented as typical of the course and nature of the instructions imparted. The lessons begin at 9 o'clock each morning, and the topics follow each other until 12, noon. At 2 the lessons are I'esumed and continue until 5 o'clock, p. m. The daily work is as follows : at 9 o'clock, Chemistry ; 10, the Microscope ; 11, FertiHzers ; 2 p. m., How Plants Grow ; 3, Soils ; 4, Dairy Products. This arrangement gives variety and prevents weariness. Text books may or may not be used, but each attendant is provided with book and pencil for taking notes, and during the lessons any one is permitted to ask questions, but no discussions are permitted. 27 One, two, four, or the whole course of lectures may be attended, as suits the inclination or convenience of the farmer. It is seen at a glance how many interesting and important topics are presented in a single week, appealing to the under- standing through the eye, as well as the ear. Extend them through another week, or over three more, during both terms and changing the topics so as to cover a complete course in scientific husbandry, and consider what a vast amount of accurate practical information is afforded by this school, in the year, comprising only four weeks' instruction. The instructors, four or six in number, are selected with special reference to their fitness for the different positions to be occupied. There are men of good common sense, having an aptness for popular instruction, and a competent fund of positive scientific knowledge, and also ingenious in illustrative experiments and in the use of apparatus. As regards funds for the support of such schools, they should be furnished by the State, and it could well afford to do so. Can any one doubt the influence of such schools upon real agricultural progress ? The solid prosperity of the farming interests must be promoted by this higher education, and I believe they would be well patronized by working farmers, the class now so much neglected. One body of teachers would supply the wants of the State, if schools were established in eight or ten different localities, as they could move from one to the other, having school terms in different months of the year. These schools would be for the benefit of the youth as well as for middle-aged men ; the farmer and his sons would attend them in winter, and doubt- less in summer, for the attractions and advantages would be 28 so great that no ordinary hindrances would be allowed to stand in the way. For several years I have entertained the design of endeav- oring to secure the establishment of a school of husbandry for the benefit of the husbandmen of Essex County, on the plan which has been outlined, and the barn-floor lecture, given in my farm barn in 1878, at which many of you were present, was but an experiment to test the feasibility of the under- taking. The success of that homely effort dispelled all doubt of the wisdom of the plan, and it would have been carried out at once, had not failing health and a pressure of business, public and private, prevented. I still hope to be able to aid in such an important enterprise, and that the time is not very remote when the scliool will be in active progress. 