the means of making experiments; but each experiment could be made only
under a single set of circumstances, while the agency of local
societies, in connection with other parts of the plan that I have the
honor diffidently to present, would convert at once a county or a state
into an experimental farm for a given time and a given purpose
It is, of course, to be expected that an agricultural college would have
the means of making experiments; but each experiment could be made only
under a single set of circumstances, while the agency of local
societies, in connection with other parts of the plan that I have the
honor diffidently to present, would convert at once a county or a state
into an experimental farm for a given time and a given purpose. The
local club being always practical and never theoretical, dealing with
things always and never with signs, presenting only facts and never
conjectures, would, as a school for the young farmer, be quite equal,
and in some respects superior, to any that the government can establish.
But, it may be asked, will you call that a school which is merely an
assembly of adults without a teacher? I answer that technically it is
not a school, but that in reality such an association is a school in the
best use of the word. A school is, first, for the development of powers
and qualities whose germs already exist; then for the acquisition of
knowledge previously possessed by others; then for the prosecution of
original inquiries and investigations. The associations of which I speak
would possess all these powers, and contemplate all these results; but
that their powers might be more efficient, and for the advancement of
agriculture generally, it seems to me fit and proper for the state to
appoint scientific and practical men as agents of the Board of
Agriculture, and lecturers upon agricultural science and labor. If an
agricultural college were founded, a farm would be required, and at
least six professors would be necessary. Instead of a single farm, with
a hundred young men upon it, accept gratuitously, as you would no doubt
have opportunity, the use of many farms for experiments and repeated
trials of crops, and, at the same time, educate, not a hundred only, but
many thousand young men, nearly as well in theory and science, and much
better in practical labor, than they could be educated in a college. Six
professors, as agents, could accomplish a large amount of necessary
work; possibly, for the present, all that would be desired. Assume, for
this inquiry, that Massachusetts contains three hundred agricultural
towns; divide these towns into sections of fifty each; then assign one
section to each agent, with the understanding that his work for the
year is to be performed in that section, and then that he is to be
transferred to another. By a rotation of appointments and a succession
of labors, the varied attainments of the lecturers would be enjoyed by
the whole commonwealth. But, it may be asked, what, specifically stated,
shall the work of the agents be? Only suggestions can be offered in
answer to this inquiry. An agent might, in the summer season, visit his
fifty towns, and spend two days in each. While there, he could ascertain
the kinds of crops, modes of culture, nature of soils, practical
excellences, and practical defects, of the farmers; and he might also
provide for such experiments as he desired to have made. It would,
likewise, be in his power to give valuable advice, where it might be
needed, in regard to farming proper, and also to the erection and repair
of farm-buildings. I am satisfied that a competent agent would, in this
last particular alone, save to the people a sum equal to the entire cost
of his services. After this labor was accomplished, eight months would
remain for the preparation and delivery of lectures in the fifty towns
previously visited. These lectures might be delivered in each town, or
the agent might hold meetings of the nature of institutes in a number of
towns centrally situated. In either case, the lectures would be at once
scientific and practical; and their practical character would be
appreciated in the fact that a judicious agent would adapt his lectures
to the existing state of things in the given locality. This could not be
done by a college, however favorably situated, and however well
accomplished in the material of education. It is probable that the
lectures would be less scientific than those that would be given in a
college; but when their superior practical character is considered, and
when we consider also that they would be listened to by the great body
of farmers, old and young, while those of the college could be enjoyed
by a small number of youth only, we cannot doubt which would be the most
beneficial to the state, and to the cause of agriculture in the country.
