within and how much from without the State. A simple enumeration of the sum total, either in pounds, bushels, acres, or their value in dollars, does not always give a full idea of the quantity our farmers have to sell, or the real productiveness of the soil. A few equalizations and comparisons, however, may help in attaining an approximate idea. The wheat crop for 1865 gives but a trifle over one quart to each inhabitant, and if to the wheat, the rye, barley and buckwheat be added, it would give 11.4 quarts to each person; still add to this the whole corn crop, and there would be 1.9 bushels of grain whereof each inhabitant could make his bread. The potato crop divided equally gives three bushels to each, but of the whole crop so small a portion comes to market that our cities must obtain a part of their supply from other States. There is only one cow to every nine people to supply dairy products; the cheese made gives a fraction over three pounds to each. Boston with its present population would find in all the butter sold from the farm about 16 pounds to each person. It has been argued by some that fruit culture would be overdone, and that even now apples do not pay; yet within the last few years we have imported largely of all varieties, and if the amount of what has been brought into the State, both fresh and preserved, foreign and domestic, could be ascertained, without doubt it would exceed all which has been sold from it even in our most fruitful years.

An average of the hay crop gives each farm 13.2 tons; the oat crop 14.2 bushels; corn 42.3; potatoes about 81 bushels; the wheat less than one. The English hay divided among the horses, cattle, and one fifth of the sheep is 1.3 tons to each animal; add to the English

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the meadow, both salt and fresh, and they would make 1.7 tons. The oats and corn fed to the horses alone in daily rations of six quarts would last 156 days. If the horses were divided among the farmers they would have 1.9 each; an equal division of the sheep gives 3.4; of swine, 1.3; cows and heifers, 3.7; of all the cattle, 4.7. Or to proportion the stock to the population, there was in 1865 5.6 people to each head of cattle; 7.4 people to each sheep, and 20 to each swine.

In 1860 the United States had 1.5 people to each sheep; 1.1 to each head of cattle, and less than one to each swine. There are obvious reasons why Massachusetts does not keep up with some of the younger States in stock raising, but is there any reason why she should fall so far below the average. Our State is not so well stocked as many foreign countries where a great deal is said about land monopoly, excess of population, slow progress, etc. In Great Britain there were 3.5 people to each head of cattle; France, 2.6; Holland, 2.7; Sweden, 2; Russia, 2.9. France had 1-1 population to each head of sheep; Prussia, 1; Spain, less than a unit. Spain had 3.6 people to each head of swine; Great Britain, 7,6; France, 7.1; Austria, 4.4.

Although the excess of the consumption of food over the production is large, no one acquainted with successful farming will doubt that the present, and even a larger population could be furnished with food from onr soil, when its real productiveness has not yet been developed; thousands of acres of our best land lie waste, or yielding at most a stunted growth of wood, or a little coarse hay and sour grass. Our farmers returned nearly an acre of unimproved land for every acre of improved. Now if one-twentieth of the unimproved land were

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planted in corn, it would give, at thirty bushels per acre, a gain nearly equal to the present crop; if another twentieth were sowed to rye, at twenty bushels per acre, the crop would be about four times the present one; a twentieth in barley, at twenty-five bushels per acre, would give more than eight times the present crop; onetwentieth in wheat, at fifteen bushels per acre, would be 773,130 bushels, or about sixteen times the amount now raised; one-tenth in oats, yielding twenty-five bushels per acre, a crop four times the present; two-fifths in hay, at one and one-fourth tons per acre, and the hay crop would be doubled; if the remaining five-twentieths were brought into good pasturage, and two acres made to support a cow, more than 125,000 of this valuable and profitable part of our stock could be added to our present number. Large as the products would then appear, who will say the maximum point would be attained, for the average yield of the acres now termed improved could be easily raised twenty-five per cent., and still be below what it produces under the management of our best cultivators. That greater progress in our agriculture can and ought to be made, none will question; but are the tillers of the soil, under present circumstances, able to bring it up to the desired standard? If all the means within their reach are persistently and faithfully used, the prospects are encouraging. The transition state through which they are passing will soon be over, and things settle down to a more permanent basis. The work they have to do and the best manner of doing it will be better understood, and it is to be hoped that ere long the migration from the farm will be checked. It was an important step towards progress when an institution was provided for educating our young farmers

for the work they are to assume.

Hitherto the existing means for acquiring that education were inadequate to the exigencies of the case, and all plans proposed to meet the deficiency failed to receive the hearty approval of those who were to be benefited thereby. Teaching the agricultural sciences in the public schools would only give a smattering of the rudiments, and judging from the past, little direct, practical aid could be expected from the classical colleges. The canker worm and caterpillar may devastate the very trees that shade their grounds, the curculio and mildew destroy their fruit, rust, blight or rot their potatoes and other vegetables, yet they pause not, swerve not from their routine to discover, if possible, practical and effectual remedies against. these and kindred pests that continually harass the farmer. Digging out Greek roots, discussing knotty points in metaphysics or ancient history, or discoursing upon heathen mythology, are more congenial occupations. The effect of the training of our classical schools seems to be adverse to fitting a young man for following the quiet, laborious life of the farmer. Were it not so, why do so few graduates immediately choose this as their future and only avocation? Were an attempt to be made to teach agriculture in our scientific schools, the other industrial pursuits having a stronger hold upon the sympathies of our citizens, it would be crowded into the back ground and would not receive the attention its importance demands.

Therefore all honor to the men who decided to establish a distinct, separate and independent college for farmers, and who located it in a purely farming district; there it can stand upon its own merits, and work out in its own way the agricultural problems of the day. It

was a bold movement-few States have had the courage to do likewise. But the exigencies of our farmers required it, and their sons can fill it to overflowing, and it can be made an institution of incalculable benefit to the whole State.

In the great work before them farmers need the aid of the Legislature, and the hearty co-operation of the public. To this some manufacturers may object, and say, we create new and better markets-if agriculture does not thrive under the stimulation of these, let it decline. Other men may claim that any special grants, privileges,. or aid from the public will be construed as favoritism and may form a dangerous precedent, for agriculture is only one of our many employments-merely a specialty. But have not our manufactures and commerce been constantly under the patronage of government, and are they either more than a specialty? Our manufacturers saw from the beginning that protection was necessary for their very existence; they sought it, claimed it, and obtained it; and even now, their great prosperity is due in large measure to the fostering care of government. A few merchants finding that Boston would be benefitted by a larger traffic with the West, at different times determined to open new thoroughfares across the State, and they asked for aid; it has been freely granted. Most faithfully and zealously has the State watched and guarded the mercantile and manufacturing interests. So far has legislation sometimes been carried to advance these interests, that the rights of farmers have been ignored. It would not be an act of generosity if the helping hand of the State were now extended and an effort made to raise agriculture to the position it should occupy; it would be simply justice, or the recognition of