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 PROMOTING AGRICULTURE 
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Centennial Year 
 
 (1T92 - ISO 2. ) 
 
 — OF- 
 
 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 — FOR 
 
 Promoting Agriculture, 
 
 'U'NIVEESIT 
 
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TRUSTEES FOR THE YEAR 1892, 
 
 Thomas Motley, President, 
 
 Leverett Saltonstall, First Vice-Pres., 
 
 Henry Saltonstall, Second Vice-Pres., 
 
 Francis H. Appleton, Recording Sec, 
 
 Charles S. Sargent, Corresponding Sec, 
 
 Jacob C. Rogers, Treasurer. 
 
 Henry S. Russell, 
 
 John Lowell, 
 
 Frederick L. Ames, 
 
 Augustus Hemenway, 
 
 S. Endicott Peabody, 
 
 Walter Cutiing. 
 
 PBINTED at SAt,EM OliSEBVER OFFIOK, 
 SALEM, MASS. 
 
>^ OF TH!! %: 
 
 [TJNIVEHSIT 
 
 i^i^^HE period of twenty or more years past has beea aa 
 ^ite epoch of centennials. Nor is it yet ended. Several 
 {.^^©S of an interesting character are now approaching. 
 One is at hand, the one hundredth anniversary of the 
 Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture. It dif- 
 fers from those preceding in'.being of State rather than na- 
 tional prestige, but is still of high rank and dignity. The 
 society was incorporated by an act of the Legislature 
 passed March 7, 1792. Its long career of beneficial activity, 
 the distinguished names borne upon its roll of member- 
 ship, and its priority of date among societies of like char- 
 acter in this section of the country make it eminent 
 among the State's chartered institutions and give it fame 
 beyond the borders, a fame not exclusively its own as it 
 pertains also to the Commonwealth. That this characteriz- 
 ation is warranted it will be the aim of the following pages 
 to show in a review of some of the main facts of the Soci- 
 ety's history. Such an anniversary is necessarily retrospec- 
 tive in its suggestions. A summing up of past experi- 
 ences will be a fitting commemoration of the old and be- 
 ginning of the new century. For the society has both the 
 resources and the disposition to pursue its mission and to 
 avail itself of whatever opportunities the coming years 
 shall bring for the advancement of the first and most 
 indispensable of the useful arts. 
 
 The origin of the Society is in the following petition : 
 
 Commonwealth of Massachusetts : To the honorable 
 the Senate and the honorable House of Representatives, 
 in General Court assembled, this second day of March, 
 1792: 
 
 The undersigned beg leave to represent that agriculture 
 
6 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 has in all civilized nations been ranked among the first 
 objects of their attention ; that different climates produce 
 different soils and different kinds of manure, which has 
 made a different cultivation important. Hence it is that 
 the beneficial effects of the best writers on the subject of 
 agriculture have been exceedingly, limited. In conse- 
 quence hereof it has been found necessary, not only among 
 the nations of Europe, but among the United States and 
 the British colonies in America, to establish under the 
 sanction of law, agricultural societies, whose particular 
 business is to make experiments themselves and invite 
 others thereto on the subject of agriculture ; and means 
 have been found by which monies have been placed in 
 their hands, which has put it in their power to give hand- 
 some premiums to the men of enterprise who have by 
 their inquiries made useful discoveries and communicated 
 them to the public. 
 
 The undersigned beg leave farther most respectfully to 
 represent that from the fullest conviction of the utility 
 of such an institution in this Commonwealth they are 
 willing to undertake the burden of being members there- 
 of, if the General Court shall think proper to vest in 
 them and their associates corporate powers, competent ta 
 embrace all the purposes which may be derived from such 
 an institution. And as in duty bound shall pray : 
 
 B. Lincoln 
 S. Holten J. Lowell 
 
 Moses Gill M. Brimmer 
 
 Azor Orne Benj. Guild 
 
 Edwd Cutts Aaron Dexter 
 
 Thomas Russell Cotton Tufts 
 
 Thomas Durfee Sam'l Adams 
 
 John Avery Jr. C. Gore 
 
 Joseph Barrell Jona. Mason Jun^ 
 
 Sa : Salisbury Jona'^ Mason 
 
 Chas Yaughan Henry Hill 
 
 Chas Bulfinch D. Sears 
 
 Ja : Sullivan John Cod man 
 
 Sam'l Phillips Stephen Higginson 
 
 Thomas L. Winthrop 
 
 The act of incorporation bore the signature of John 
 Hancock as governor of the Commonwealth. In it the 
 petitioners were named as the corporators in alphabetical 
 
FOR PEOMOTING AGRICULTURE. T 
 
 order, Famiiel Adams being at the head of the list. The 
 final clause of the act is as follows : 
 
 That the place of holding the first meeting of the said 
 society ^hall be in the town of Boston ; and that Samuel 
 Adams, Esq., be, and he hereby is authorised and em- 
 powered to fix the time for holding the said meeting, and 
 to notify the same to the members of the said society, by 
 causing the same to be published in one of the Boston 
 newspapers, fourteen days before the time fixed for hold- 
 ing the said meeting. 
 
 Mr. Adams, mindful it maj be surmised, of the desirability 
 of beginning on a propitious day, named April 19, follow- 
 ing. The meeting was held accordingly in the Council 
 Chamber of the State House, the same in which, as de- 
 clared by John Adams, " the child, Independence, was 
 born, '' and the same where Samuel Adams had demanded 
 of Governor Gage " the removal of both regiments, " in 
 air and attitude as the artist has represented him in Bos- 
 ton's familiar statue. The only business done at this meet- 
 ing of April 19 was to take the first step in organization, 
 by electing John Avery, Jr. secretary of the society pro 
 tern. The organization was completed at an adjourned 
 meeting of June 14, 1792. 
 
 The dates given are important as marking the beginning 
 of whatever has since been done in Massachusetts by soci- 
 eties or cfficial boards for the promotion of agriculture. 
 Here on March 2, March 7, April 19 and June 14 the prim- 
 ary impulse was given, which, within the next 27 years, 
 was manifest in the formation of eight other agricultural 
 societies in the State. Previously to 1852 seven more were 
 organized and in that year the Board of Agriculture of the 
 State was established.* 
 
 These organizations and those of the various town clubs 
 and societies were but copies of the original instance, the 
 
 *Tbe dates are as follows: Middlesex Society, 1794; Stiirbridge society, 
 1799; Keimebec, 1800; Berkshire, 1811; Essex, 1818; Worcester, 1818; 
 Hamps-hire, Franklin and Hampden Society, 1818; Plymontli, 1819; Bristol, 
 1823; Barnstable, 18i4; Hampden county society, 1844; Housatonic, 1848; 
 Norfolk, 1849; Hampshire and Franklin society, 1850; Worcester West 
 society, 1851. All but one or two of these were organized as corporations. 
 
8 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 method and operation of which were Inore and more seen 
 to be of indisputable utility. It may be remarked that the 
 society is not only prior in date to all others in the State, 
 but, as a corporation, to all others in the United States. 
 In New York and Pennsylvania, and possibly in one of the 
 more Southern states, societies had been formed a few 
 years earlier, the first in 1785. In the Canadian provinces 
 one, or possibly two, existed. The petition alludes to 
 these, and, in the same connection, to European societies. 
 They were but few in number. Britain appears to have 
 had but two, the Dublin society, which is stated to have had 
 " but small influence for many years, " and the Highland 
 society in Scotland, which was incorporated in 1787. The 
 British Board of Agriculture was not established till 1793. 
 It is noticeable that the fathers of the Massachusetts society 
 disclaim in their petition any pretence as originators ; but 
 their praise is that they were in the world's front rank as 
 *' advanced thinkers '' on the important subject for promot- 
 ing which they organized, and, as respects public opinion, 
 they were, as one of the later official publications of the 
 society declares, " ahead of the age. " 
 
 Two names are at once recognizable in the list of peti- 
 tioners as of the highest distinction and of national renown, 
 Samuel Adams, " the father of the Revolution, '' and Ben- 
 jamin Lincoln, the companion in arms and personal friend 
 of Washington. If the shadows of forgetfulness have in 
 varying measure crept over the others it is fitting that, 
 for the present occasion, they be singled out from the long 
 roll of one hundred years, as pre-eminent, the fathers and 
 founders, the brethren ah urbe condita. 
 
 John Avery Jii., the first secretary of the society, was 
 at the time of its organization also the secretary of the Com- 
 monwealth. He was of the Truro family of that name ; 
 born in 1739 ; graduate of Harvard, 1759 ; secretary of 
 State from the adoption of the constitution in 1780 to his 
 decease in 1806. He does not appear to have been a prac- 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 9 
 
 tical agriculturalist, but engaged in a subordinate way in 
 the form of *' ventures " in commerce. 
 
 Thomas Russell, the first president of the society, was 
 one of the foremost, busiest and most prosperous citizens 
 of Boston. He was born in 1740 ; died in 1796 ; repre- 
 sented Boston in the General Court, and the constitutional 
 convention of 1788 ; was member of the governor's coun- 
 cil during the next three years. He was the first president 
 not only of this society but of the Massachusetts Bank, 
 when it was organized in 17^ ; of the United States branch 
 Bank at its organization, in 1792, and of the Charles river 
 bridge corporation in 1785. He lived on one of the finest 
 estates in Boston, fronting on Summer street, with the 
 mansion standing at the present northerly part of Otis 
 street, near Wiuthrop square. He had a farm of 53 acres, 
 part of which was in Charlestown and part in Cambridge, 
 and at one time he owned the Craigie estate in Cambridge, 
 now familiarly known as the home of Longfellow. When 
 in 1784 (the war being ended) the Continental congress 
 decided to sell on the stocks the new 74 gun frigate, the 
 first ever built in Boston, he was appointed as the agent to 
 conduct the sale. When the frigate Constitution was 
 launched in 1797, though he was no longer living, it was 
 deemed worth the while to make record that the bottle of 
 Madeira wine, with which the ship was christened, came 
 from the cellar of Thomas Russell. 
 
 Joseph Barrell (1739-1804) was a leading merchant. 
 He had a store on the town dock near Faneuil Hall, and 
 sold West India and other foreign goods. He was first on 
 the list of direoctrs of the United States Bank, and the pi- 
 oneer in opening the Northwest coast trade. His ships, 
 the Washington and the Columbia, were the first to round 
 Cape Horn in that enterprise, and the latter was the first 
 vessel that ever crossed the bar of the Columbia river in 
 Oregon, whence the river gets its name. He, also, had a 
 fine estate on Summer street, which he improved by filling 
 up the bog in the rear, which had existed from the begin- 
 
10 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 ning, near what is now Franklin street, and laid out a gar> 
 den and fish pond. In 1792 he built a brick mansion at 
 Charlestown (now Somerville) on the premises now known 
 as the McLean Asylum, where he owned ITO acres of land. 
 The building is in use to this day, and in some of its inter- 
 ior construction is regarded as elegant according to present 
 standards. He introduced the tautog fish into Boston bay. 
 
 Martin Brimmer (1742-1804) was a prosperous mer- 
 chant of Boston. He appears not to have held any public 
 office. He had an estate of 40 acres in Roxbury on or near 
 the borders of Jamaica Pond. This was his place of resi- 
 dence throughout the year and no doubt he was, in a very 
 just sense, a '' practical farmer.'' 
 
 Chai?les Bulfinch (1763-1844) graduated at Harvard 
 in 1781 ; afterwards visited Europe for study and estab- 
 lished himself as architect in Boston in 1786. Many nota- 
 ble buildings of Boston were planned by him, including 
 the State House, the original City Hall, and the " Tontine 
 buildings, " so called, famous mansions in their day and 
 whose outline in the ground plan gives the present crescent 
 form to Franklin street. He was architect of the Capitol 
 at Washington, as originally constructed, from 1817 to its- 
 completion in 1830. 
 
 John Codman (1755-1803) was a prominent merchant. 
 He was born in Charlestown, where his father had a farm. 
 He was a director of the United States Bank. When in 
 1798 war with France was imminent, he, with other Boston 
 merchants, built a frigate and presented it to the United 
 States government, his subscription being $3,000. He was 
 a member of the lower branch of the General Court three 
 years and twice was chosen a senator. 
 
 Edward Cutts Tl 728-1 818) was a prominent lawyer 
 and judge in Kittery, then in this state, now in Maine. He 
 had agricultural interests there. He was a senator in 
 the General Court three years and member of the gov- 
 ernor's council, nine years. 
 
 Aaron Dexter (1750-1829) graduated at Harvard in 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 11 
 
 1776. He was a ship's surgeon in the Revolutionary war 
 and was captured by the British. He also served in the 
 army called out to suppress Shay's rebellion. He was pro- 
 fessor in chemistry and materia medica at the college for 
 many years and later was president of the Middlesex Canal 
 corporation and prominent in various societies. He owned 
 a farm in Chelsea where the Marine Hospital now is. 
 
 THO.>rAS DuRFEE (1721-1796) was born in Tiverton now 
 Fall River. He had a farm of 750 acres there. He was a 
 representative of the town s^eral years, senator 13 years^ 
 of the governor's council six years, a judge in Bristol 
 county, member of the constitutional convention of 1788, an 
 active patriot in the Revolution and personal friend of La- 
 fayette. 
 
 Moses Gill (1733-1800) was born in Charlestown and 
 resided in Princeton, and was a farmer there. He was a 
 member of the provincial congress of 1774, senator in 1789, 
 lieutenant governor in 1794 and acting governor from Jun& 
 1799 to May 1800. 
 
 Christopher Gore (1758-1827) was the son of an opu- 
 lent Boston merchant ; graduate of Harvard College in 
 1776, appointed by Washington the first district attorney 
 of Massachusetts ; commissioner in England to settle 
 treaty claims in 1796 ; charge d'affaires in London in 1803 f 
 governor of Massachusetts in 1809 ; at different times 
 member of both branches of the Legislature ; senator in 
 Congress from 1813 to 1816; donor of -$100,000 to Har- 
 vard College. Gore Hall is at Cambridge named in his 
 honor. 
 
 Benjamin Guild (1719-1792) was a graduate of Har- 
 vard in 1769 ; tutor there from 1776 to 1780 ; a preacher 
 for a while ; kept a book store in Cornhill ; married Col. 
 Josiah Quincy's daughter. 
 
 Stephen Higginson (1743-1828) was born in Salem, 
 and was a merchant there ; when in London 1774-5 he was 
 called to the bar of the House of Commons and questioned 
 as to the state of things in Massachusetts ; he was delegate 
 
12 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 to the Continental Congress in 1782 and 1783 ; served as 
 lieutenant colonel in suppressing Shay's rebellion and was 
 an active adviser of Gov. Bowdoin in that crisis. 
 
 Henry Hill was a Boston merchant ; died in 1828 ; 
 lived in a fine mansion on Summer street ; was representa- 
 tive in the General Court in 1776 and 1789 and one of the 
 overseers of the poor of the town of Boston. He had a 
 store at some central situation where in 1798 certain seed 
 wheat received from foreign ports was distributed to the 
 trustees of the society. 
 
 Samuel Holten (1738-1816) whose name is also 
 spelled " Holton, '' was of Danvers ; an eminent physician 
 and zealous patriot ; member of the provincial congress, 
 1774-5 ; delegate to organize the Confederation ; member 
 of Congress, six years ; of the governor's council, 27 years, 
 and of the constitutional convention of 1789 ; also judge of 
 probate and common pleas. 
 
 John Lowell (1743-1802) was born in Newburyport 
 and represented that town in the provincial congress ; rep- 
 resented Boston in the Legislature in 1778 ; was in the 
 convention of 1780 and secured the insertion in the bill of 
 rights of the declaration that all men are born free and 
 equal, expressing opinion that it would abolish slavery iu 
 the State. His legal foresight was vindicated, for when a 
 test case arose it was so adjudicated by the highest State 
 court. He was a member of the Continental Congress in 
 1782 and 1783, and became successively, judge of the 
 United States District and Admiralty Court for the district of 
 Massachusetts, and circuit-court judge for the New England 
 states. He owned and lived on a large farm in Roxbury, 
 lying between the present Centre and Old Heath streets. 
 
 Jonathan Mason, Sen. was a merchant in Boston, a 
 selectman of the town of Boston, member of both branches 
 of the Legislature and of the governor's council. He was 
 a deacon of the Old South church ; deceased in 1798. 
 
 Jonathan Mason, Jr. (1752-1831) was a lawyer; 
 graduate of Princeton College ; member of both branches 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 13^ 
 
 of the Legislature, representing Boston ; member of the- 
 governor's council ; member of Congress in the Senate 
 from 1800 to 1803 and in the House during two terms. 
 He owned a large farm in Brookline. 
 
 AzOR Orne (1731-1799) lived in Marblehead ; was a 
 member of the provincial and continental congresses, 
 major-general of militia in 1775 and 1776, member of 
 both branches of the Legislature and of the conventions 
 of 1780 and 1788. 
 
 Samuel Phillips (1751-1802) was a graduate of Har- 
 vard in 1771 ; a member of the provincial congress and 
 the constitutional convention ; a member of the State 
 senate, representing Essex, twenty years, and its president 
 from 1786 to 1801, and lieutenant governor in 1801 and 
 1802. He founded Phillips Academy in Andover. 
 
 Samuel Salisbury (1739-1818) was a prominent 
 merchant of Boston ; deacon of the Old South church,, 
 and lived in a fine mansion on Summer street about oppo- 
 site to Hawley street. 
 
 David Sears (1752-1816) was a wealthy merchant in 
 Boston ; a patriot of the Revolution ; owned and fitted 
 out a privateer in 1779 ; was chairman of the committee 
 of merchants who built a frigate in 1798 as a gift to the 
 national government, his subscription to that end being 
 $3,000 ; a director of the United States Bank, and owner 
 of territory thirty miles square in Maine, which includes 
 the present towns of Searsport and Searsmont. 
 
 James Sullivan (1744-1808) was a brother of Gen. 
 Sullivan of the army of the Revolution ; a lawyer by pro- 
 fession and an extensive farmer in York county, now in 
 Maine ; a member of the provincial congress ; of the con- 
 vention of 1780 ; of the Continental Congress in 1784-5 ; 
 judge of the superior and probate courts, and governor of 
 Massachusetts in 1807 and 1808. He was the king's 
 attorney in York county and later attorney general of the 
 State of Massachusetts, and held rank as a writer on legal, 
 political and historical subjects. 
 
14 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 Cotton Tufts (1734-1815) was born in Medford and 
 resided and practiced as a physician in Weymouth. He 
 prepared the stamp act resolutions of that town in 1765 ; 
 represented the town in the General Court and was presi- 
 dent of the Massachusetts Medical Society. 
 
 Charles Vaughan (1759-1839) was a prominent mer- 
 chant in Boston for a considerable period. He was a 
 brother-in-law of Charles Bulfinch, shared in the Tontine 
 Building enterprise, and was an energetic and persevering 
 -man in whatever he undertook. He was a trustee of the 
 Society as it was originally organized and was not absent 
 from any of the monthly meetings of the board, excepting 
 twice or thrice, until his resignation and removal from 
 Boston in 1799. He was a large land owner at Hallowell, 
 then in this State, and built wharves, warehouses, dwell- 
 ings and mills there immediately upon his removal thither, 
 and also partly built a town on the river below Bath. 
 These enterprises proved on the whole to be unprofitable, 
 but he prospered as a farmer in the town of Hallowell 
 and is recorded as having been a promoter of schools and 
 agriculture there. 
 
 Thomas L. Winthrop (1760-1841) graduated at Har- 
 vard in 1780, was state senator and lieutenant governor 
 from 1826 to 1833 and president of the Massachusetts 
 Historical Society, of the American Antiquarian Society 
 and of the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agricul- 
 ture. 
 
 Soon after the organization of the Society large addi- 
 tions were made to the list by admission of new members, 
 comprising names not less eminent. Among these were 
 John Hancock, John Adams, Fisher Ames, Nathaniel 
 Gorham, Robert Treat Paine, Nathan Dane, Timothy 
 Pickering, James Bowdoin, Increase Sumner, Caleb 
 Strong, Elbridge Gerry, Gen. Henry Knox, Gen. William 
 Heath, Gen. John Brooks, Gen. Artemas Ward, Rev. 
 Manasseh Cutler, Rev. J. T. Kirkland, Rev. William 
 Emerson, Rev. J. S. Buckminster, Levi Lincoln, Loammi 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTUEE. 15 
 
 Baldwin, Josiah Quincy, Israel Thoradike, George Cabot, 
 Theodore Lyman, James Warren of Plymouth. The list 
 might easily be extended by adding other contemporary 
 and more modern names, which would in like manner be 
 significant of the character of the membership. Those 
 cited, which mostly or wholly may be found on the pages 
 of the recognized text books of history, will warraat at 
 once a presumption, of which the record gives proof, that 
 from the start the society exerted a wide and effective in- 
 fluence. 
 
 A study of the circumstances amidst which the society 
 began its work brings conviction that those concerned in 
 it were prompted by sentiments of patriotism and philan- 
 thropy. Their method of philanthropy did not intend 
 the bestowment of a dole, but the uplifting to a better 
 self-help of the then chief industrial class of the commu- 
 nity, comprising the bulk of the population. The patriot- 
 ism of the movement may be judged to have had a two- 
 fold relation ; first a desire that the new nation should 
 keep pace with the old father-lands in applications of the 
 useful arts and, secondly, an aim to reach a right solution, 
 through the way of practical wisdom, of the pressing 
 economic questions of the hour. There were no party 
 questions Jn vol ved. Leading men of both parties were 
 in the movement. Discontent prevailed, especially in the 
 middle and western parts of the State, which had but 
 lately culminated in insurrection, and all over the State 
 there was poverty from the pinch of which few were 
 wholly exempt, and which in many cases approached to 
 destitution. It was easy to rail at the government and 
 demand less taxes and legislation to shift from particular 
 classes a due share of the burden ; and it mast have been 
 evident to men of the type of those above enumerated 
 that the only solution was in a resort to the primary 
 sources of wealth, tha(y then most generally available be- 
 ing the cultivation of the soil. 
 
16 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 The long war of the Revolution had dissipated the ac- 
 cumulations of former times not only by direct destruc- 
 tion of property but by onerous though unavoidable 
 taxation and the cutting off of various profitable indus- 
 tries, possible only in times of peace, so that the people 
 had been spending not earnings but savings ; and besides 
 all was an enormous depreciation of legal-tender values. 
 Farmers might well complain of hard times, when, as in 
 one instance of record, which illustrates the general ex- 
 perience, a farmer sold a cow in the spring for -^40 in 
 continental money, but in the fall could make the sum go 
 no farther than to buy a goose for his Thanksgiving din- 
 ner. 
 
 Some appeal to patriotism with reference to State inter- 
 ests may have been prompted by a movement which began 
 in 1788 for settlement of the Ohio Territory. Nothing of 
 record shows this to have been the case, but it is at least 
 probable that it was felt, that, to compete successfully 
 with the fertile West, and so retain at home the most vig- 
 orous and ambitious of the farming population, the art of 
 agriculture must be fostered and advanced in every prac- 
 ticable way. 
 
 But the prevalent poverty was not the only adverse 
 circumstance. The low condition of the agricultural art 
 was another. Farming in the old way, when each year 
 added tracts of rich virgin soil by the clearing of forests, 
 was no longer possible. No method of adequately restor- 
 ing the exhausted soil appears to have been generally 
 practiced or even known. It was about this time that 
 occurred those instances referred to in the first report of 
 the State Board of Agriculture, in which barns were 
 removed to get them conveniently away from the accumu- 
 lated heaps of manure, which heaps were regarded simply 
 as a nuisance. The plough of the period was a clumsy 
 structure of wood, having here or there a cutting projec- 
 tion of iron and a strip of iron-facing where the most 
 wear came. All tools were heavy and cumbrous, strength 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 17 
 
 being gained by increasing the weight of iron, and the use 
 of steel being restricted to the maintenance of a cutting 
 edge where that was indispensable. Four-wheeled farm 
 vehicles were unknown. Seeds were sown, orchards 
 pruned and fire wood and timber cut with regard to the 
 phases of the moon and the contingency of the new 
 moon's lying upon its back or standing upon its horn. 
 With fire places everywhere in use, suited to produce and 
 handle with facility the largest quantity of ashes, its value 
 as a fertilizer was unknown g-nd its use confined to the 
 annual household leach. To plough shallow was the only- 
 rule, lest the manure spread on the surface (the moving 
 of barns noted above being exceptional) should be car- 
 ried below the reach of the roots of corn and vine and 
 there be soaked down to unknown depths and lost. 
 Neither neat cattle, horses or swine could be said to be of 
 any breed, being the progeny of creatures brought by the 
 :first settlers, originally good no doubt, according to the 
 standard of that early day, and still showing by chance 
 here and there a meritorious specimen. Cattle were left 
 over night in the pastures far into the autumn and some- 
 times were exposed to wintry blasts that they might 
 *' toughen." The use of salt in curing hay, rotation in 
 crops, the ploughing in of green crops were unknown. 
 Fruit cultivation among the generality of farmers was 
 restricted pretty closely to the production of cider apples. 
 As late as 1823 the president of the Society oflScially 
 lamented that farmers still continued the practice " of 
 slicing up summer apples and suspending them in front of 
 the house to dry that they might have a comparatively 
 insipid and tasteless provision for winter," and he de- 
 clared that, " till every farmer can lay up ten barrels of 
 excellent winter apples, for his own use, we shall not ex- 
 pect much progress in other branches of gardening." 
 
 Manifestly there was a field for missionary work such 
 as the new society proposed to engage in. They had en- 
 couragement in the fact that important and satisfactory 
 
18 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 results had followed from like endeavors of recent date in 
 foreign lands, but they had also the discouragements 
 which usually attend such work at the start in the inertia 
 of conservatism of that moss-grown sort that prefers the 
 old ways. The mass of farmers of that period lacked the 
 quick intelligence that success in their occupation re- 
 quires. Probably the instruction of the common schools 
 had been but a feeble affair during the preceding seven- 
 teen years. But had all been disposed to read and 
 experiment there were no guides and no text books. 
 Neither in this country or Great Britain, in 1792, had any 
 newspaper or magazine devoted to agriculture been issued, 
 and as respects the latter country there is the best author- 
 ity for saying, that " the first systematic work on agricul- 
 ture that reallv advanced the art " did not appear till 
 1805. 
 
 Progress was slow in the society's enterprise at first. 
 In the rural tavern talk the members were held to be 
 mere " theoretical farmers," in contrast with the only 
 desirable sort, the '* practical farmers ; " and it was not 
 long before the more trenchant term of " gentlemen far- 
 mers," was applied to the innovators. Some of the early 
 publications of the Society were condemned as containing 
 articles " above the capacity of common farmers." Even 
 as late as the date of the first public exhibition, or 
 '' cattle fair," of the society one in this frame of mind 
 complimented the managers of the ploughing match upon 
 " the speed of their oxen," the sarcasm being in a level- 
 ling down of the competition to the then accepted opinion 
 as to the utility of horse racing. 
 
 To these various criticisms the officers of the Society 
 made reply in their publications from time to time, but, 
 conscious that nothing on their part justified these taunts 
 they did not answer in a like spirit. Indeed, in an official 
 paper of 1799, the mildness and candor of the declaration 
 are such that the case is almost stated in the terms of the 
 adverse party. The document says : 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 19 
 
 *' The society possesses means of causing useful infor- 
 mation to be published and diffused, and to reward, in 
 some degree, the efforts of the ingenious and industrious 
 in any new attempts of improvement, which they have in- 
 trusted the trustees with the application of. Our central 
 situation, and nearness to each other, give us the advan- 
 tage of frequently meeting, and receiving information. 
 We do not, however, affect to disguise that our usefulness 
 is, and will be, very much circumscribed without the aid 
 of the practical farmer, and that it is only as an organ of 
 information, that we can be extensively of importance." 
 
 Nearly every issue of the society at this early period 
 contains a cordial or urgent invitation to '' practical far- 
 mers " to communicate information, and in one of them it 
 is remarked that grammatical defects are no hindrance and 
 that the trustees will '' methodize '' the writing before 
 printing. 
 
 1 1 is proper to say that this opposition or jealousy does 
 not appear to have been general, but it lurked here and 
 there and manifested itself in various ways and must have 
 been a hindrance. The experience is here recalled only 
 as being a part of the history of the society, and as show- 
 ing that the early stages of its march were not a mere 
 holiday or picnic excursion, but called for some exercise 
 of the virtues of perseverance, patience, magnanimity and 
 good nature. 
 
 What has thus far been said has been with intent to 
 indicate the motive in which the society had its origin, 
 the character of its founders, the standard in discussion 
 and action which they sought to abide by and the condi- 
 tions under which it began. These last, so far as relating 
 to the art itself, are to be regarded as the zero point horn 
 which its attainment in one hundred years is to be meas- 
 ured. This preliminary statement cannot better be 
 brought to a close than by quoting the spirited language 
 of President John Lowell in a reply made in 1823 to some 
 current animadversions, which throws light on the then 
 past period, and which, as descriptive of the career of the 
 society, is likewise applicable at the present date: 
 
20 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 If it be asked whether the society did much in its in- 
 fancy, we answer readily and frankly, no. But wit hstill 
 more confidence we add that it was not their fault. The 
 institution was ahead of the age and of the intelligence 
 of the State, and of public opinion. Its two first volumes 
 will show that the trustees were not remiss. Their 
 queries distributed all over the State, prove their zeal, 
 and intelligence, and intimate knowledge of the real 
 wants of agriculture. No society in Europe or America 
 ever issued a more valuable set of queries, and no society 
 could at this day improve them, except by some trifling 
 additions derived from new discoveries. But neither 
 Europe nor America were prepared at that time for the 
 improvements and experiments which have since taken 
 place. It is praise enough, that the Massachusetts Agri- 
 cultural Society was the third in order of time, framed, 
 established, and endowed to promote the cause of agricul- 
 ture (as we believe), in an}^ part of the world and that it 
 never lost sight of its object, and was always ready to en- 
 courage, and reward all attempts to improve any one 
 branch of agriculture, and give publicity to any ingenious 
 suggestions for the promotion of this art. 
 
 The official record of the first meeting of the society, 
 April 19, 1792, states that Samuel Adams was present, and 
 while that point of detail is omitted in the record, it is in 
 the nature of the case that he called the assembly to order, 
 and, since nothing is said of any other person as chairman, 
 undoubtedly he presided during the brief session, the only 
 business of which was the election of a secretary of the 
 society pro tern. Time was taken for consultation and two 
 adjourned meetings followed. At that of May 31, John 
 Avery, Jr., was chosen permanent secretary, and seventy- 
 two new members were admitted. At the adjourned meet- 
 ing of June 14, articles of organization were submitted and 
 what in them was necessary for the immediate purpose was 
 adopted, and a permanent board of officers was chosen as 
 follows : 
 
 President, Thomas Russell ; vice presidents, John Low- 
 ell and Moses Gill; recording secretary, John Avery, Jr.; 
 corresponding secretary, Oliver Smith ; treasurer, Aaron 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 21 
 
 Dexter ; trustees, Cotton Tufts, Loammi Baldwin, James 
 Bowdoin, Christopher Gore, Charles Vaughan and Martin 
 Brimmer. 
 
 The names of three who had become members since the 
 date of the charter appear. The articles adopted at the 
 next meeting, June 22, provided among other things for 
 an annual and a semi-annual meeting of the society ; that 
 the officers and those specially named as trustees should be 
 the board of trustees, to which board the routine work of 
 the society was to be committed, and that an annual fee of 
 two dollars should be paid by each member of the society. 
 
 The first meeting of the board of trustees was held on 
 August 3. It was voted to publish at once in the princi- 
 pal newspaper of Boston an announcement, with the list of 
 officers, that the society was now organized and that the 
 board would meet monthly, and soliciting communications 
 of a practical character from all interested in the objects 
 of the society. Another vote was passed recommending 
 that members of the society in different parts of the State 
 should meet from time to time, inviting their neighbors to 
 join them, for consultations and discussions relating to 
 agriculture, with a view to the gathering of information 
 useful in the work of the society. At this meeting was 
 read a communication from Justin Ely of Springfield, de- 
 scriptive of the practice of farmers in New York state in 
 the cultivation of hemp. At the next meeting several pa- 
 pers were read, that of the most interest, apparently, being 
 a recent English pamphlet giving account of methods of 
 treating diseases, defects and injuries of fruit trees invented 
 by William Forsyth, gardener to the king of England. The 
 board at this time appointed a standing committee to ex- 
 amine critically all papers and communications received 
 with a view to selecting such as, in whole or part, might 
 usefully be published. 
 
 The first semi-anuual meeting of the society was held on 
 October 3. A letter from the printer of the Independent 
 Chronicle of Boston, was received, in which he offered to 
 
22 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 publisli the advertisements of the society gratuitously, a 
 proof of the public interest wliich attached to them. 
 Among the new members admitted was John Hancock, 
 then Governor of the State. 
 
 At the trustees' meeting in November, subscriptions to 
 the permanent fund of the society to the amount of $3,363, 
 were reported. President Russell, who had subscribed 
 $1,000, added to his gift such sum as might procure a com- 
 mon seal for the society, and a committee to report a de- 
 vice for a seal was appointed. At a subsequent meeting a 
 society seal was adopted, the design of which was described 
 by tlie committee as follows : ^' A plough should be a part 
 of the device, with a pair of oxen, connected by a chain to 
 the same. A stone wmII, and a quick fence, with a gate ; 
 the field beyond the gate, with sheep and cattle; the motto 
 —Source of Wealth : filled upon the garter — around 
 the margin of the Seal, Massarhu setts Society for Promot- 
 ing Agrivutture^ incorporated 1792''' 
 
 At the December meeting the first instance occurred in 
 which the society had called to its attention an improve- 
 ment in farming apparatus. This was in a letter from one 
 who styled himself '• A New Hampshire Farmer," and the 
 article was described as an improved cart " for conveying 
 empty barrels, and convenient also for loading hay." The 
 invention was probably not of much value, as no action ap- 
 pears to have been taken by the trustees ; but the inventor 
 is entitled to mention here as being the file leader in a 
 procession of thousands, who, in the experience of this and 
 kindred societies in this State, have since come forward, 
 each bearing his peculiar " Yankee notion." Many of 
 these, it need not be said, were at once or after a brief 
 trial, taken out of the rank of " notions " and accepted as 
 the farmer's indispensable appliances, adding height to his 
 stature, strength to his frame, and swiftness and deftness to 
 his manipulation. 
 
 At the meeting in January, 1793, a petition to the Gen- 
 eral Court was prepared, asking for its cooperation and 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 23 
 
 patronage, the appeal being based upon the proposition 
 that *' agriculture is at the basis of those arts which sus- 
 tain and embelUsh life," and that therefore, the grant will 
 be a proper act of legislation in seeking '' the best welfare 
 of the State." The petition failed, but later was renewed 
 with good success. At the meeting in March, 1793, a 
 communication was received from Benjamin Upton of 
 Reading, giving account of his method of destroying can- 
 ker-worms and preserving the leafage of his orchard, 
 which in efficacy, he states toj3e in the ratio of five to one, 
 as compared with what can be done " in the common 
 way." He does not describe that way, but his method was 
 fiubstantially that still followed of applying a mixture of tar 
 ^nd oil with a brush. The proportion was of twenty gal- 
 lons of thin tar to one of whale oil, and he put it directly 
 upon the trunk of the tree, covering a space of from two 
 ito six inches around the trunk according as the insects 
 were running in fewer or greater numbers. The oil, he 
 «ays, besides keeping the tar from hardening prevents the 
 tar from injuring the bark. 
 
 The board voted to have the letter printed in the Boston 
 newspapers of the next Thursday and then voted to offer 
 two premiums, the first in the history of the society. One 
 of f 50 was for *' the most satisfactory account of the 
 natural history of the canker-worm," and the other of 1100 
 for the most effectual and cheapest method of destroying 
 these insects." The letter of Mr. Upton gives details of 
 his method not indicated here. Besides the '^ common 
 way," whatever that was, other hopeful remedies had been 
 proposed through the public prints and otherwise. At that 
 date any of these seemed as likely to succeed as that of the 
 tar and oil. The object of the trustees was to bring out 
 still other methods that the best might be ascertained, and 
 very logically they began the business by seeking first for 
 adequate knowledge of the habits of the insect. 
 
 Time was taken to consider what other matters were 
 worthy of like attention and in April, 1793, premiums were 
 offered relating to manure ; to the cultivation of wheat ; to 
 
24 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 the improvement of wild lands ; to the raising of trees ; 
 and for the most: beef from tlie fewest acres ; the greatest 
 stock (farm animals) maintained on the least land ; the 
 best vegetable food, except hay, for wintering stock ; the 
 most and best wool from a given number of sheep ; the 
 best process for making cider ; the best method of making 
 maple sugar, and for butter, cheese, flax and salted provis- 
 ions. It was voted that those obtaining the highest pre- 
 mium might at their option have the society's gold medal, 
 suitably inscribed. The medal had for its device, the seal 
 of the society on one side, and engraved on the reverse 
 these words— " Presented to (A B ,) 1796." 
 
 In April, 1793, at the meeting of the society a vote was- 
 passed looking to an encouragement of the formation of 
 county societies for promoting agriculture. 
 
 The trustees in February, 1791, appointed a committee 
 " to consider the expediency of procuring a piece of ground 
 for the purpose of agricultural experiments.'^ This project 
 ultimately took a somewhat different shape and led to the 
 establishment of the Botanical Garden at Cambridge, in 
 conducting which the society for some years cooperated 
 with the college. At the April meeting of 1794, an analy- 
 sis was ordered of a specimen of earth, said to be marl and 
 of value as a fertilizer. In the following October a report 
 was made by Dr. Cotton Tufts to the effect that by tests 
 with four different acids, and with spirits of ammonia, the 
 earth had no chemical affinity with vegetable or mineral 
 acids, and so was worthless for the purpose named. In 
 July, 1794, a letter from Dr. J. C. Lettsom of London^ 
 Eng., was read expressing his appreciation of having been 
 chosen as an honorary member and enclosing a draft for 
 ten guineas, which he desired should be applied in the 
 society's work in the direction of natural history.* 
 
 *John Coakley Lettsom, M, D., was a physician of extensive practice in 
 London, a man of versatile mind and general scientific attainments and a 
 writer of repute on various subjects outside of those pertaining to his pro- 
 fession. He was a personal friend of Dr. Benjamin Franklin. He was in- 
 terested in agriculture, and it is recorded of him that he was the first to 
 introduce the mangel-wurzel into England, about the year 1773. He wa» 
 bom in 1744 ; died in 1815. 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 25- 
 
 The trustees' meeting of May 29, 1795, was of special 
 interest as there were awarded two premiums, the first ever 
 given by the society. They were for essays on compost 
 manures. Upon opening the sealed packets the names 
 were found to be Rev. Phinehas Whitney of Shirley, writer 
 of the essay for which $50 or the gold medal of the society 
 had been offered, and Jesse Bannister of Brookfield, writer 
 of the essay entitled to the premium of 130. It was voted 
 to publish Mr. Whitney's essay at once in the newspapers. 
 The premiums for the most satisfactory history of the can- 
 ker worm had been earlier offered but the time for competi- 
 tion did not expire till July 1, 1795. In August the essays 
 on that subject entitled to the gold medal or 150, was found 
 to have been written by William Dandridge Peck of Kit- 
 tery, and the report says that the essay '' bearing the sig- 
 nature of a triangle appears very ingenious and useful, and 
 if the author shall consent that the paper containing his 
 name be opened and the essay published, $25 or its equiva- 
 lent in plate shall be given him." This was consented to 
 subsequently and the writer proved to be Rev. Noah At- 
 v^ater of Westfield. In October, 1796, awards were made 
 in like manner for an essay on the cultivation of wheat to 
 Rev. Reuben Holcomb of Sterling, and for an essay on 
 bringing wild lands into a state of improvement, to Freder- 
 ick Plympton of Sturbridge. 
 
 The essay on canker worms by W. D. Peck undoubtedly 
 impressed the committee, as it would any reader of the 
 present day, as showing the superior attainments of the 
 writer in his department of natural science. In the 
 method of discussion, analytic treatment, closeness of at- 
 tention to details and aptness and conciseness of diction 
 it does not fall below the modern standards. When, there- 
 fore, at the next meeting of the trustees in September a 
 letter was received from a prominent naturalist of New 
 Jersey, asking if any member of the society could give him 
 information on. a plant called the chicorium intybus, the 
 board at once voted to refer the letter to Mr. Peck. He 
 
26 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 returned a satisfactory account of the plant, which was 
 read at the October meeting. In August, 1795, a premium 
 of 850 for the best essay '' on the natural history of the 
 worm that has lately infested cherry, pear, quince and plum 
 trees, called the snail or slug worm, '' was offered. The 
 ultimate date for competition was to be Sept. 30, 1797. 
 The award was made in the usual manner and it was found 
 that Mr. Peck was again the successful essayist. It was 
 voted to print the essay and accompanying illustrations, 
 and he was requested to superintend the engraving. These 
 experiences probably had the effect of drawing particular 
 attention to him and it appears, though not on the society's 
 records, that he removed to Cambridge, where, in 1805 he 
 became professor in natural history in Harvard College of 
 which he was a graduate in 1782. He held the professor- 
 ship till his decease in 1822. At an early date he became 
 a member of this society. 
 
 In April, 1796, a gold medal was awarded in the usual 
 manner to Rev. Jonathan Newell of Stow, for a method of 
 draining ponds. The town of Stow has a permanent re- 
 minder of him in the flow of the stream from a pond in or 
 near the centre of the village. Once the flow was in the 
 opposite direction, and was called " Strong-water brook ". 
 The brook has now only a legendary existence. It is no- 
 ticeable that at this early stage clergymen were very suc- 
 cessful in gaining premiums. This, it may be concluded, 
 was owing partly to the circumstance that other experi- 
 menters and investigators did not, in very considerable 
 numbers, feel well competent to express their experiences 
 and results on paper, and partly to the fact that rural 
 -clergymen of that day had to economize on their meagre 
 salaries, and personally engage in farming operations, and 
 so were well qualified to speak from experience. At a 
 semi-annual meeting in 1798, the society voted to request 
 Rev. William Welles of Brattleboro, Vt., to communicate 
 an essay on the cultivation of barley. He did so and added 
 thereto full directions for the makinor of small beer and 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 27 
 
 strong beer. This addition might seem anomalous on the 
 part of a clergyman at this day but it is to be considered 
 that but little use was made of tea and coffee by farmers at 
 that period, because of the cost, and that small beer, or as 
 it was usually called, " home-brewed beer," was in almost 
 universal use among them. 
 
 In the latter part of the year 1795 the society issued its 
 :first pamphlet. It contained the rules and regulations ; a 
 list of officers and members ; a list of premiums then 
 pending ; the two premium essays on the canker worm ; a 
 'history and description, with results of experience in Vir- 
 ginia, respecting the then newly discovered " forward 
 wlieat ; " the premium essay on compost by Rev, Mr. 
 Whitney; a carefully prepared and clear account of the 
 method of making maple sugar, by a farmer of Northfield, 
 Mass., who dates the paper Feb. 4, 1794 : home communi- 
 cations relating to the management of cows and sheep, and 
 to butter making and tree cultivation ; and selections from 
 foreign publications descriptive of the then recent and 
 novel successes of Robert Bakewell in England, in breeding 
 cattle and sheep, and of the methods in use in England for 
 making Stilton and Cheshire cheese. One or two other 
 articles were in the contents. 
 
 Much attention was given by the society at the beginning 
 to the subject of wheat cultivation. The possibilities of 
 grain transportation, now so familiar, were then not only 
 beyond conjecture but beyond belief. A prediction of 
 them would have been classed with the story of 
 Aladdin's lamp. It was doubtless supposed that the 
 main reliance for wheat supply must be the home fields. 
 Earnest efforts were accordingly made to get the best 
 and most manageable and productive seed wheat. The 
 records prior to 1800 have mention of several distribu- 
 tions of seed-wheat among members of the society. A 
 favorite seems to have been the Early Virginia wheat, pro- 
 duced from a native seed, and on one occasion 145 was 
 paid from the funds for a quantity of it. Samples were 
 
28 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 also obtained from Connecticut, New Hampshire, Quebec 
 and Rio Janeiro. Later, within a brief period, samples 
 were received of wheat grown in Italy, Egypt, Southern 
 Russia, Siberia, Patagonia, Chili and at the Cape of Good 
 Hope, in each case sufficient for testing by cultivation. 
 Several of these were brought by commanders of vessels of 
 the United States navy. Other seeds of various kinds 
 were procured from distant places and distributed. A 
 special importation from England of several varieties of 
 potatoes was made. In 1792 the potato had not gone into 
 common use in this country, but it was beginning to be ap- 
 preciated, and before the close of the century it superceded 
 the turnip, which had been the chief vegetable on the far- 
 mers' table. Hope was generally entertained in this and 
 other States that silk production might profitably be fol- 
 lowed. Accordingly, mulberry seeds in considerable 
 quantity were distributed and premiums offered for mulber- 
 ry cultivation. Among the seeds brought from foreign 
 ports by vessels of the navy were Persian rye and " pom- 
 pion " seeds. 
 
 During the period indicated relations were established 
 with other agricultural societies, viz., the Middlesex society, 
 when formed in 1794 ; with the Board of Agriculture of 
 Great Britain in 1796 ; with the new society at Sturbridge, 
 Mass., in June, 1799, and with the New York society. 
 Friendly letters were exchanged in each instance and 
 copies of the society's publications were sent to each socie- 
 ty when issued. The most interesting, at the present date, 
 of these experiences is that with the British Board of 
 Agriculture. In November, 1791, William Strickland, a 
 member of that board, who was contemplating a visit to 
 America, was proposed as an honorary member, and unani- 
 mously admitted. In the following August a letter dated 
 in Philadelphia was received, in which he acknowledged 
 with thanks a notification of his election. Soon afterwards 
 the trustees sent some of the society's publications to the 
 board in England, and upon his return he was authorized 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 29 
 
 by the board to make due acknowledgement, which he did, 
 writing from his residence in York, and with a graceful 
 compliment, considering then recent events, dated liis let- 
 ter, July 4, 1796. He expressed the desire of the board 
 to cooperate with the society " in promoting objects so 
 eminently conducive to 4he benefit and happiness of man- 
 kind." The letter was accompanied with publications of 
 the British board. 
 
 The trustees responded with a vote of thanks for the 
 gifts, and they instructed the secretary to write to Mr. 
 Strickland, certifying to the vote, ''and send him a small 
 cheese-mill, such as is used in this country." In June, 
 1797, a letter from Mr. Strickland was read in which he 
 states that he has received '' a machine for breaking curds 
 in the manufacture of cheese," and says, "I make no doubt 
 that it will meet with the appreciation of the society of the 
 Board of Agriculture in England, as it appears to me to be 
 well calculated from its simplicity and efficacy to save 
 much trouble in the laborious and delicate operation of 
 cheese making." In September, 1797, a letter was received 
 from Sir John Sinclair, president of the Board of Agricul- 
 ture, acknowledging receipt of copies of the society's pub- 
 lications and a model of a *■' cheese-curd breaker " and 
 expressing the thanks of the board, therefor. 
 
 In April, 1796, occurred the decease of Hon. Thomas 
 Russell, the president, and at the annual meeting of that 
 year John Lowell was chosen to the chief office. Numer- 
 ous matters having a direct relation to agriculture were 
 -considered, and acted upon during the first eight years. 
 Among these was the formation of a library, for which the 
 most reputable and authoritative works on agriculture 
 were purchased, as issued. Many communications to the 
 society, recognized at once as of practical value, were 
 ordered to be published in the newspapers. In the list of 
 things wherein action was taken by publication or award 
 of premium are the following : An analysis of soils, that 
 the chemical qualities of good and poor soils being known, 
 
30 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 what was lacking in the latter might be supplied, if within 
 the limits of reasonable cost ; hemp and flax cultivation, 
 and machines for preparing the fibre ; apparatus for rapidly 
 moving bodies of earth ; improved breeding of the native 
 sheep ; cultivation of onions ; raising apple trees from the 
 seed ; the management of bees*; care of orchards and 
 pruning ; raising of hoop-poles ; a description of Thomas 
 Jefferson's newly invented plough and mould-board ; and 
 improvement of wild lands. A method of removing brush 
 without ploughing, and another by ploughing and following 
 with a peculiarly constructed harrow, were passed upon. 
 
 In an award in this line there is a special manifestation 
 of comity with reference to the newly formed Sturbridge 
 Agricultural Society. The trustees say, that while the 
 writer of the essay '' does not propose an entirely new 
 method, yet in consideration that it has borne the test of 
 experience, and being attested by a respectable agricultural 
 society in the county of Worcester, it is adjudged a pre- 
 mium." At the last meeting in December, 1799, the trus- 
 tees issued the printed list of forty-nine questions to which 
 President Lowell referred in remarks already quoted. The 
 purpose of these was to learn, through the widest inquiry 
 possible, the actual condition of agriculture throughout the 
 State, both as respects improvements made and defects ex- 
 isting, with intention that by subsequent circulation of 
 information, remedies for the latter might be suggested. 
 
 The affairs of this early period have been presented 
 somewhat more fully and minutely than is contemplated in 
 narrating the later history, wherein a statement of the 
 more significant and conspicuous facts will suffice, and will 
 bear like testimony. What has been given certifies to the 
 zeal, diligence, liberality of spirit and breadth of view 
 with which the society began its work ; that almost from 
 the beginning a perceptible impression was made upon the 
 minds of the more intelligent part of the community, and 
 tended thus towards a revival of agriculture ; and that in 
 starting little rills of influence, which later broadened into 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 31 
 
 streams that yet beneficently flow, the " theoretical far- 
 mers " were in fact a very practical sort of men. 
 
 Steady progress on the lines already indicated was made 
 by the society during the early years of the present century 
 and the board of management showed special activity and 
 enterprise in widening the field of usefulness. Improve- 
 ments in farming methods and apparatus received prompt 
 and cordial recognition, and instances occurred where pre- 
 miums were awarded to persous living out of the State. 
 No premiums were given on patented articles, but recom- 
 mendation of such was made, when deserved, in the official 
 publications. The first year of the century brought out a 
 suggestion, which, though not immediately acted upon, was 
 frequently discussed and gradually gained favor, namely, 
 that it would be an efi'ective encouragement to farming in- 
 dustry to establish near Boston an annual or semi-annual 
 cattle fair. When the idea took shape in 1816, it was not 
 as a cattle fair but a cattle show. The original proposal 
 was to bring together farming animals and other products 
 for sale on the spot, as well as for competition for premi- 
 ums. 
 
 Considering the success and manifest utility which have 
 since characterized exhibitfcns of this kind it might seem, 
 at first glance, that the board of management was over- 
 cautious, or lacked insight as to what would be a popular 
 and taking thing. To judge rightly in this as in many 
 other matters wherein the society took action during the 
 first forty years, the vast difference of circumstances then 
 and now must be taken into account. In the instance here 
 referred to it is to be remembered that thirty years were to 
 elapse between the date of the suggestion and that of the 
 first railroad. It is easy now to assemble great throngs of 
 people and entertain them with ocular proofs of superior 
 farming drawn from a wide spread territory. But in 1801 
 an exhibition at Cambridge or Brighton of specimens 
 gathered from the nearest towns of Essex, Middlesex and 
 
^2 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 Norfolk, and an awarding of premiums in the name of Mas- 
 sachusetts agriculture, might have been deemed not only 
 invidious as respects other counties, but inadequate and un- 
 just as respects the proper renown of the whole State in 
 the particular of the agricultural art. 
 
 Due appreciation of the society's efforts during the 
 period alluded to depends upon having in mind the exist- 
 ing difficulties of communication, as well as of travelling. 
 The rates for letter postage then would now be deemed 
 extortionate. No newspapers were published oftener than 
 once a week, excepting perhaps one or two semi-weeklies, 
 and the first daily paper did not appear till 1813. The 
 circulation of these was small and no adequate space for 
 •diffusion of agricultural information could have been had 
 in any of them. The society was restricted in this part of 
 its work to pamphlet issues. In 1801, its publications 
 were distributed in some of the remote sections through 
 the Worcester, Middlesex and Kennebec agricultural socie- 
 ties. In 1812 a special effort was made " to awaken a live- 
 lier interest in the important subject of agriculture," and 
 1,000 copies of a letter addressed to farmers were printed. 
 One copy was sent to each town clerk in the State with a 
 request that he would read it in town meeting. All the 
 clergymen of the '' inland towi!s " of the State were made 
 honorary members of the society and letters were addressed 
 to all "requesting the exertion of their influence in aid of 
 the measures of the board." These efforts were apparent- 
 ly of good effect, for in the next year it was noted with 
 congratulation in one of the issues of the society, that 
 '' num'erous town societies " had been formed for promoting 
 agriculture, and in another connection the names of fifteen 
 of these are given. These, as well as the county 
 societies, were therea fter available for gathering and dis- 
 tributing information. In 1813, the society began a serial 
 publication which was called the " Massachusetts Agricul- 
 tural Journal " and was issued semi-annually. 
 
 In 1801 it was voted to appropriate 1500 towards the 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 33 
 
 foundation at Harvard College of a professorship of natural 
 history, and, after proper negotiations, it was established in 
 1804. The plan, so far as connected with the objects of 
 the society, provided for scientific observation of the 
 growth of vegetation and of the habits of noxious insects, 
 that methods might be devised for their destruction, and a 
 cultivation, for sale and distribution, of the seeds and roots 
 of useful plants. This cooperation of the society and 
 college continued for twenty-five years, when the annual 
 grant which had been made fey the State, in aid of this 
 part of the society's work, ceased. During the period 
 named the society voted annually a sum of money from 
 its own funds for the work, and appointed each year a board 
 of visitors to report thereupon. Herein was the origin of 
 the present '* Botanical Garden '' at Cambridge. 
 
 In the year 1801 the society took a very important step, 
 which marks the beginning of a movement which has gone 
 on with increasing benefit both to the farming population 
 and the general public, the movement, namely, by which all 
 sorts of farm-bred animals have been immensely improved 
 in the breeding of the most desirable qualities. Neither 
 by a comparison of written records, nor by listening to the 
 testimony of the oldest citizen qualified to speak on the 
 subject, can a true idea be gained of tlie disparity between 
 the conditions prevalent then and now ; and it is even far- 
 ther beyond the mind's capacity to estimate the money 
 value of the improvement. Much of the benefit thus real- 
 ized by the whole people is attributable to the endeavors of 
 the society, constantly exerted during the long lapse of 
 years, and much has resulted from efforts otherwise made 
 or prompted. Here, however, was the beginning of any 
 concerted action, in the ofibr of a premium in July, 1801, 
 for sheep for breeding purposes, " superior to any breed 
 now in the State" — a premium of 830 for each animal in- 
 troduced into the State, and if from a foreign country, $50. 
 
 In 1802 the trustees had their attention called to the 
 fact that Col. David Humphreys of Connecticut, had that 
 
S4: THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 year imported 100 Merino slieep. In accordance with their 
 practice of ignoring State lines in specially meritorious 
 •cases, the board voted to him the society's gold medal of 
 -foO. At the next monthly meeting after the passage of 
 this vote it was announced that, in October, 1801, a pair 
 of Merino sheep had been imported from France by Seth 
 Adams of Dorchester, Mass. The fact having been verified 
 by a committee, a |50 gold medal was given him. From 
 the year 1814 dates the practice, which has steadily been 
 followed, of importation, by the society itself, of choice 
 breeding animals, this first instance having been from 
 France, of two bulls and two cows of the Alderney, or what 
 is known as the Jersey breed. 
 
 In 1805 the General Court recognized the public utility 
 of the society's endeavors by granting to it a township of 
 six miles square in the district of Maine, in aid of the pro- 
 posed professorship of natural history. While the proceeds 
 of the sale of this tract did not add to the society's per- 
 manent fund it enabled the trustees to ascertain, by a satis- 
 factory test, what practical and direct benefit to agriculture 
 might be derived through science, as applicable in botany 
 and entomology. In 1809 another township was granted 
 to the society on like conditions. This tract appears to 
 have been shared equally by the state of Maine, through a 
 construction of a clause relating to public lands in the act by 
 which Maine was separated from this State. In the con- 
 tract with the college as to the administration of the pro- 
 fessorship it was stipulated by the society that an acre of 
 land should be devoted to raising seeds of culinary vegeta- 
 bles and producing specimens of new and useful grains 
 and grasses. 
 
 In 1813 the society's permanent funds, being the sum of 
 what had been contributed by members, with accrued inter- 
 est, amounted to nearly f 20, 000. Liberal payments had 
 been made each year in premiums. As early as 1808, the 
 total of annual premiums offered was more than !t^l,000. 
 In 1814 the legislature made what is recognized in the 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 35 
 
 society's current publication as " a liberal grant.'' It was 
 an allowance of 11,000 annually from the public treasury 
 '' for printing and circulating their publications on agricul- 
 ture only ; for the raising of seeds and plants, or the ex- 
 pense of any experiments made by them with a view to 
 promote agricultural knowledge." 
 
 The satisfaction which the members of the society must 
 have felt upon this action of the Legislature was not limited 
 to the pecuniary benefit thereby conferred, for in the resolve 
 itself as adopted and printed in the official volume of acts 
 and resolves are embodied, as preamble to the resolve, 
 these gracious words of the committee reporting thereupon: 
 '' Your committee are satisfied that the object and design of 
 the society are laudable and useful ; that it has a tendency 
 to diffuse knowledge and promote a spirit of inquiry and 
 improvement, and your committee are also convinced that 
 the said society by its premiums for introducing Merino 
 sheep and by encouraging the introduction of new seeds 
 and trees has already been productive of a great public 
 benefit." In 1816 the Legislature granted $500 and a like 
 sum annually thereafter to enlarge the total of premiums 
 given by the society at its annual cattle shows. 
 
 In 1807 a sufficient number of answers to the circular 
 of the society containing the forty-nine questions had been 
 received to warrant publication, the result being a pamphlet 
 of thirty-eight pages. While the number of persons re- 
 sponding was not as great as had been hoped, the committee 
 of publication found some satisfaction in the fact that the 
 towns heard from were separated by considerable distances, 
 making the response, as a whole, more instructive than if 
 it had come from towns in a particular section of the State. 
 The towns heard from were Barnstable, Brookfield, Brook- 
 line, Concord, New Gloucester in the district of Maine, 
 Marlboro, Newbury, Sturbridge and Worcester and the 
 several towns represented by the agricultural society of 
 western Middlesex. The pamphlet must have been accep- 
 table to readers of that date and is still historically inter- 
 
86 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 esting. Two or three points may here be noted as indicative 
 of the then existing condition of agriculture. The Marl- 
 boro correspondent in touching upon the topic of woodlands 
 sagaciously remarks : " One half the woodland now re- 
 served would suffice if our farmers paid a little more 
 attention to the finishing of their rooms. In order to save 
 $20 in finishing his house, the farmer often subjects himself 
 to an annual expense of half that sum for fuel, which 
 otherwise might be spared, without reflecting that he might 
 as well borrow money at 50 per cent, to complete his 
 house." 
 
 The responses show that at the beginning of the century 
 a medium crop of hay for an acre of upland in Marlboro, 
 Concord, New Gloucester and Newbury was one ton ; in 
 Worcester, Brookline and Barnstable, one and one-half 
 tons ; in Brookfield, 18 cwt. ; in western Middlesex towns^ 
 16 cwt. A medium crop of Indian corn per acre in the 
 same towns ranged from 40 bushels in Newbury to 20 
 bushels in Barnstable. Among the products of the farm 
 sold for money, Marlboro and Worcester name '' mules." 
 This breeding was a distinct advance upon the state of 
 things existing a few years prior ; for the first importation 
 into the United States for this purpose occurred in 1795, 
 when two jacks were landed at Portsmouth, N. H., being a 
 gift from the king of Spain to General Washington. 
 
 The correspondents report that the shelling of Indian 
 corn was generally done with a flail, though in one town 
 the approved method was by rubbing the ear of corn 
 against the edge of a spade laid flat-wise. But a brighter 
 day in this particular had dawned, for already, in 1803, 
 an inventor had gained the approval of the board of trus- 
 tees for his newly contrived " corn-sheller." 
 
 In 1802, after a service of six years, President Lowell 
 declined a re-election, and Caleb Strong, who at the time 
 and during five years following was the Governor of the 
 State, was chosen president of the society. He held the 
 office until 1805 when John Adams, ex-president of the 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 37 
 
 United States, was chosen. Mr. Adams was president of 
 the society until 1813 and Dr. Aaron Dexter was his suc- 
 cessor. In 1812, Josiah Quincy, who for a considerable 
 period had been a member, was elected a trustee of the 
 society. Evidences of his vigor and versatility appear fre- 
 quently in the record of the next fourteen years. In 1813 
 he contributed to the official publication of the society an 
 account of his method and success in cultivating a hedge 
 fence of American thorn on his farm in the town of 
 Quincy. It was four-fifths of a mile long and in five 
 years had attained a height of five feet, and was dense 
 enough to prevent the passage of cattle. The experiment, 
 he said, was designed to show what would be practicable 
 and economical in those parts of the State where there is 
 a scarcity of stone for building walls. This scarcity is, of 
 course, no part of the fame of the town of Quincy. His 
 next important experiment was, however, intended for 
 local instruction in the first instance, though by publish- 
 ing the result in the society's Journal in 1816, the 
 instruction became general, and has ever since been 
 followed by the farmers of the State. He had observed, 
 he said, " a universal prejudice " among farmers against 
 the cultivation of carrots for winter feed of cattle. This 
 aversion was based upon the amount of labor found nec- 
 essary in raising a small quantity of carrots for culinary 
 purposes in a garden bed. Being, as it would appear, 
 something of a *' book farmer " — for he disclaims any orig- 
 inality in the method — he prepared and ridged, substan- 
 tially as the work is now done, two tracts of 3i acres each, 
 keeping exact record of labor and other cost. The result 
 was a yield of 2,562 bushels of roots on the two lots at a 
 cost, including allowance for rent of land, of 'i!<322. Al- 
 lowing a value for 16 tons of carrot tops, as fodder, he • 
 figured the cost of the roots at eleven cents per bushel. 
 He adds that the farmers of his vicinity had taken up the 
 practice and admitted that the labor is not greater than in 
 raising potatoes and the feed better for cattle. 
 
38 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 For a number of years after the practice of importing 
 Merino sheep was begun the society's publications had 
 much to offer of advice and discussion as to wool and the 
 raising of sheep for the shambles, etc. One writer in 
 1813 naively begins his essay thus : " The present high 
 prices of sheep are to be ascribed principally to two 
 causes : First, the number of speculators in the market 
 who buy to sell again ; and, secondly, to the prevalent 
 erroneous practice in breeding." He goes on to criticize 
 the practice, saying that " hitherto, unfortunately, the 
 finest sheep have been selected for the butcher and the 
 poorest, only, kept for breeding." He gives reasons for 
 reversing the practice, but does not suggest any remedy 
 for the other cause of high prices paid by consumers^ 
 which, as respects various farm products, has not yet 
 wholly ceased to be lamented. 
 
 In 1814 a letter from Justin Ely of Springfield, one of 
 the most intelligent contributors and members, was pub- 
 lished in the Journal recommending the cultivation of 
 rhubarb to save the cost of medicine, for which the im- 
 ported root was used ; and he speaks of his own success 
 with some roots which had been sent to him by Charles 
 Vaughan of Kennebec. In printing the letter the editor 
 declares that there are two kinds of rhubarb, and re-iter- 
 ates by saying, '* we are satisfied we are right,'^ and then 
 adds that that which his correspondent has received is 
 probably not the true medicinal root, though it may have 
 some value in that way. His reason for this opinion was 
 that Mr. Vaughan had given to friends in Boston speci- 
 mens of the other kind of rhubarb, the stalks of which, 
 the editor says, are " equal or superior to gooseberry, as a 
 preserve for tarts." The phrase indicates a suspense of 
 judgment as to whether the edible was liable to supercede 
 the gooseberry or not. Evidently neither Mr. Vaughan 
 nor his Boston contemporaries suspected the commercial 
 value of this garden novelty, nor had any prophetic vision 
 of the staggering wains that now daily, in the season, go 
 
rOK PROMOTING AGEICULTURE. i" 30 
 
 forth from thousands of farms in Massachusetts towards 
 the nearest market, laden with the gooseberry substitute. 
 Efforts to solve the wheat-growing problem did not 
 cease, and in 1814, four members reported in the Journal 
 their success, and described the method, in raising a large 
 crop free from "rust" (a blight which the grain was- 
 thought to be specially liable to in sea-shore towns), name- 
 ly, John Lowell at Roxbury, Josiah Quincy at Quincy, 
 Peter C. Brooks at Medford and John Jenks at Salem. In 
 1814 a gold medal, of |50 value, was given to Andrew 
 Haliburton of Portsmouth, N. H., for his newly invented, 
 but not patented churn. In principle, though not exact 
 form, it was the same as the rotary churn now in use. 
 The value of cut feed for cattle was becoming understood 
 and in 1815, the trustees awarded Elisha Hotchkiss of 
 Brattleboro, Vt., the highest premium for his hay or straw 
 cutter, and bought of him his patent right for the State of 
 Massachusetts. Certificates granting liberty to use the 
 apparatus were freely given by the secretary of the society 
 to persons in this State, on application. Two years later 
 another patented cutter appeared, which was an improve- 
 ment, and embodied the main principle of that now in 
 use. 
 
 In 1814 an article appeared in the Journal, with cor- 
 dial editorial commendation, relating to the mangel-wur- 
 zel beet. It was a translation from " the most approved 
 work on agriculture in use in France." The vegetable is- 
 termed in literal translation " the root of scarcity," which 
 seems a quaint if not ambiguous name, until the text 
 explains it. The statement is that the Germans, and the 
 French who copied their practice, pluck the lower leaves 
 of the vegetable daring its four growing months for suc- 
 culent food for cattle, and that the root will keep sound, 
 after harvesting, for eight months, thus supplying the cat- 
 tle the rest of the year. Hence, the intimation is that a 
 liberal cultivation of this root will offset and defeat 
 scarcity in other sorts of feed during the round year. 
 
40 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 Much anxiety was felt during the period now referred 
 to as to a probable early scarcity of fuel, and premiums 
 were offered by the society for the raising of forest trees. 
 At the beginning of the century the highest premium was 
 awarded to Col. Robert Dodge of Hamilton, for raising, 
 from the seed, 4000 oak trees. In 1816 an elaborate arti- 
 cle on the preparation and use of peat was published in the 
 Journal. The editor, in a preface, remarks that much suf- 
 fering experienced during the late war might have been 
 avoided had a knowledge of this fuel been generally 
 diffused, and he has the satisfaction of being able to say 
 that '' in many places through which the Middlesex canal 
 passes, peat bogs were found from 20 to 50 feet deep. 
 There is undoubtedly enough good peat, without using 
 the top of the ground which is loose and spongy, to last 
 the country for centuries.'' The arrival of anthracite coal, 
 about the year 1830, eventually solved the fuel problem. 
 
 In 1800 the first seed-sowing machine was exhibited 
 and recommended by the trustees. In the following 
 year it was announced that experiments had proved that 
 the exchange of seeds and roots between distant places or 
 different climates was not of special benefit, but that the 
 selection of the earliest and best seeds, from the most 
 flourishing stalks, and planting only the best roots, were of 
 importance. In 1814 machines for raising water for irri- 
 gation, and others for threshing grain, were shown, but did 
 not gain the approval of the trustees. In 1816 a newly 
 invented winnowing machine received their commenda- 
 tion. The first cattle show of the society took place at 
 Brighton, Oct. 8, 1816. It was successful beyond expec- 
 tation and was repeated annually upon broader lines in 
 the following years. 
 
 At the close of the ofiicial year following this event the 
 society reached its quarter-centennary. The abbreviated 
 record of the period here made is sufficient to evince that 
 it had exercised a steadily increasing influence and had 
 now an active public opinion as its auxiliary. Beginning 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 41 
 
 with conditions of general apathy, of more or less piev- 
 alent distrust as to its intentions, and of incredulity that 
 anything important could be gained to the farming inter- 
 est, it had created a feeling of confidence as to the future 
 of the agricultural industry and excited a spirit of in- 
 quiry. It had widely distributed thousands of pages of 
 printed matter, supplying tlie best information then obtain- 
 able relating to the art ; given impetus to the formation 
 of numerous co-working societies, and printed the essays 
 and contributed to the premiums of some of the more 
 important among them ; it had introduced new seeds and 
 plants and choice breeds of farm animals, from foreign 
 lands ; brought new modes of farming into acceptance 
 among leading farmers in different parts of the State, 
 thereby exerting an exemplary influence upon others who 
 gave to books and pamphlets no welcome ; it had set fairly 
 at work the inventive faculty of the land in devising better 
 farming apparatus ; enlisted science to search and exper- 
 iment in the behest of agriculture ; and, by its successful 
 cattle show, had reached the popular heart (which is al- 
 ways responsive in beholding the novel and the extraor- 
 dinary), thereby entering upon a radically different but 
 most effective method of diffusing agricultural knowledge, 
 the method of " object teaching." 
 
 In this retrospect one event already mentioned may 
 briefly be dwelt upon, since it will recall, with special 
 distinctness and amid interesting circumstances, a historic 
 figure, and will permit, in the way of preface, reference 
 to a practice on the part of the board of trustees which 
 has been kept up from the earliest years to the present 
 time. The event was the retirement of John Adams 
 from the presidency of the society, and the practice is 
 that to which he alludes in his letter of farewell, the 
 holding of business meetings at the residences of mem- 
 bers. There being twelve members of the board, the 
 custom in recent times has been to designate, at the be- 
 ginning of the year, for each member, the particular 
 
42 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 month when he may expect the others to be present at his 
 house, to transact business and to accept his hospitalities. 
 The meetings have, therefore, always had a social as well 
 as a utilitarian intent. In reverting to the fraternal rela- 
 tions thus established, and the pleasure he had derived 
 thereby, Mr. Adams no doubt expresses a sentiment com- 
 mon to all who have ever been members of the board. 
 The following is his letter. 
 
 QuiNCY, May 25, 1813. 
 Dear Sir : 
 
 It is not with any enviable feelings that I find myself 
 under a necessity of addressing you at this time, and in 
 this manner, to request the favor of you to communicate 
 to our society my determination to retire- 
 As my advanced age and indifferent health render it 
 impossible for me to attend the meetings of the society or 
 discharge the duties of my office with any regularity, I 
 decline the future election to the chair of the Society for 
 Promoting Agriculture. 
 
 In taking a respectful and affectionate leave of the 
 Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture, of their 
 trustees, and of the visitors of the professorship of 
 natural history and the botanical garden, I am bound in 
 duty to express the high sense I entertain of the honor 
 done me by repeated elections to their chair, and the 
 gratitude 1 feel for the pleasure I have had in their con- 
 versation in many of the most social and happy days of 
 my life. 
 
 My best wishes attend the members for their health and 
 happiness, and sincere prayers for the promotion and 
 prosperity of agriculture and horticulture in Massachu- 
 setts and throughout the world. 
 
 John Adams. 
 To Dr. Aaron Dexter, 
 
 Vice President, etc. 
 
 The period immediately succeeding that now passed in 
 review was prolific in things novel in the way of sugges- 
 tion, experiment, invention and enterprise. Nor were 
 the earlier subjects neglected. Continued attention was 
 given in the society's publications, or by the offering 
 of premiums, to mulberry cultivation. Much foreboding 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 43 
 
 as to the disappearance, at an early date, of forest trees, 
 was expressed and the cultivation of such trees was 
 urged. The cultivation of wheat was persistently clung 
 to, and premiums were paid for extra large crops of that 
 grain. The utility of the ruta baga as compared with 
 turnips of the ordinary kind and with mangel-wurzel was 
 much debated, the first premium for a ruta baga crop 
 having been offered in 1819. In 1819 John Prince, of 
 Roxbury, an active member of the society, sent for publi- 
 cation a letter describing a n&w pest which was infesting 
 apple trees, the " borer." He says, " I mentioned the 
 subject to Professor Peck and to the corresponding secre- 
 tary (Mr. Lowell) and to several others, none of whom 
 had heard of this destroyer of the apple tree." He 
 recommended extermination by means of a wire, thrust 
 into the hole where the worm is at work. 
 
 In 1818 a letter was received from a farmer of Fra- 
 mingham giving account of a large annual yield of butter 
 from a particular cow, and of his method of generous 
 feeding. The editor of the Journal commented approv- 
 ingly and drew from his reserves a manuscript sent by 
 Rev. Mr. Packard in 1799, the words quoted from which, 
 the editor says, ought to be pasted up in every dairy in the 
 State, viz. : '' Three cows [on a farm in Marlboro] pro- 
 duced 278 pounds of butter. They were a more produc- 
 tive dairy than six usually are with ordinary feed. Far- 
 mers egregiously mistake when they overstock their 
 farms. Were dairies always estimated by the pails of 
 milk they produce, instead of the number of cows, many 
 a farmer's wife instead of asking her husband to buy 
 another cow would urge him to sell two, to enrich the 
 dairy." During the same year a Norfolk county farmer 
 protests against the prevalent recklessness in pruning 
 fruit trees, by means of a hatchet or bill hook, lopping off 
 branches six or eight inches from the limb and leaving 
 the remnant to rot. He urges that pruning be done in 
 May or June when the sap is flowing, instead of March, 
 
44 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 ^s was usual, and cutting the branch smoothly off, close 
 to the limb, covering the cut with a cement of tar, bees- 
 wax and ochre ; also the cutting away of the sky-point- 
 ing young branches, which he calls " gluttons," and giv- 
 ing the horizontal or fruit-bearing branches a chance. 
 
 In 1819 the importance of statistics of agriculture was 
 emphatically affirmed in the Journal, with incidental 
 -commendation of a new variety of early corn cultivated 
 by Samuel W. Pomeroy of Brighton, vice president of the 
 society. The main point of the argument was that if far- 
 mers had knowledge of the magnitude of the particular 
 interest affected favorably or adversely, they would be 
 more generally impelled to active measures. The remark 
 B.8 to corn was : '' Every one knows that the crops of Indian 
 oorn were generally cut off by frosts in 1816. Had it 
 been known Avhat quantity of Indian corn is usually 
 raised in a season in the county of Middlesex, for exam- 
 ple, the loss, in 1816, would probably have been so much 
 more felt that more attention would have been paid to the 
 recommendation of a species of corn cultivated by Mr. 
 Pomeroy of Brighton, and others, not a field of which 
 suffered by frost that year. This species, besides bearing 
 R large and fruitful ear, husks itself when ripe." In the 
 Journal of the following year Mr. Pomeroy discussed the 
 importance of the corn crop and recommended extensive 
 cultivation. Having recognized in his article certain 
 modifying considerations, especially a due regard to rota- 
 tion of crops, he added this interesting remark : " But I 
 wish at the same time to hold up to view the golden 
 fleece found by our Pilgrim Fathers on their first landing, 
 and which, had it not existed or continued with their 
 descendants nearly a century after, the fair inheritance 
 we now possess, in the opinion of many sound political 
 economists, could not have been transmitted to us." 
 
 In 1824 overtures were made by the managers of 
 Dummer Academy in Newbury, for bestowment of the 
 patronage of the society in conducting an experimental 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 45* 
 
 farm there. It was implied in the proposition that agricul- 
 tural instruction should become a part of the curriculum of 
 tlie institution, a foreshadowing of the State Agricultural 
 College of a later date. The trustees of the society re- 
 sponded with cordial approval of what was suggested, and 
 said that they had previously recommended something of 
 the kind to the Legislature. They judged, however, that 
 such an enterprise ought to be under the direction and con- 
 trol of the State authorities. 
 
 In 1830, after conference ^nd agreement with the offi- 
 cers of Harvard College, the connection of the society 
 with the Botanic Garden was severed, and it went into the 
 sole charge of the college. This step appears to have 
 been taken in consequence of the action of the Legisla- 
 ture in refusing further grants of money for the purpose. 
 The $600 received from the State that year was paid over 
 to the college, and the fund derived from sale of the Maine 
 townships became vested in the college. No doubt much 
 benefit to agriculture had, directly and indirectly, resulted 
 from this cooperation, during 26 years, of the college and 
 the society. The corresponding secretary of the society 
 from 1798 to 1806 was Rev. J. T. Kirkland, and he con- 
 tinued to serve as a trustee until 1810, when he became 
 president of the college. He served in that office until 
 1827 and manifestly took a personal interest in the botan- 
 ic-agricultural department of the college. This is indi- 
 cated, in part, by various payments made to him during 
 his presidency, for seeds, plants, etc., and noted in the 
 Society's records. In 1836 the trustees, after investiga- 
 tion by a committee, offered premiums for the cultivation 
 of the sugar beet and the production of sugar therefrom. 
 
 In 1824 the Journal contained a long article on road 
 making, giving a particular description of the method 
 employed in England by John Loudon McAdam. The 
 relation of this improvement to agriculture was indicated 
 by the editor in quoting the remark of a respectable far- 
 mer that " fuel is now (in 3 824) cheaper in Boston than 
 
46 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 30 years ago ;" the reason being that roads had been so 
 improved that it had become more of an object, to a wider 
 district of country, to bring wood to the capital. This 
 improvement of roads had not been by the McAdam 
 method ; but the point of the editorial comment was that 
 still better roads would make the great market town still 
 more accessible to the farming population, for bringing 
 all their products. In 1827 the Journal published an 
 article of twenty-five pages length which was mainly a 
 description of the project, then under consideration, for 
 building the Baltimore and Ohio railroad. An official 
 survey had not been made ; but it is editorially remarked 
 that one had been made in the State of Massachusetts for 
 a more difficult road from Boston to Hudson river, and 
 that the stock already subscribed for much exceeded the 
 estimate of cost. An official report on this survey had 
 not been published ; but the facts developed in the Balti- 
 more preliminary report were deemed important to the 
 farmers of Massachusetts, as respects facility in getting to 
 market. The great speed with which journeys may be 
 performed and freight conveyed was held up to admira- 
 tion, and instances in English experience were cited. By 
 an engine often horse-power, it is said that, in one instance, 
 50 tons of goods were carried on a level road at the rate 
 of six miles per hour, and lighter cars for conveying pas- 
 sengers were moved at twelve or fourteen miles per hour. 
 The cost of the Quincy granite railway is stated at 
 111,052.98 per mile, which was believed to be one-third 
 more than, in 1827, would* be the cost. 
 
 Soon after 1820 were exhibited at one or another of 
 the society's annual cattle shows, and gained official ap- 
 proval, a newly invented corn-cracking mill, new devices 
 for a corn sheller and a hay cutter, a new style of plough 
 for paring or slicing meadow. land, and a flax-seed separa- 
 tor. In 1818 a premium of |25 was paid for a threshing 
 machine, but it was not an entirely satisfactory apparatus, 
 as special efforts were made about the same time to get 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 47 
 
 something less expensive and better for the purpose than 
 had been found ; and, among other things done, a letter 
 was written to Thomas Jefferson, asking for a description 
 of a threshing machine used by him, and his opinion of it. 
 In 1822 a premium of 175 was paid for Gregg & Hale's 
 threshing machine. In 1824 a lengthy description was 
 given in the Journal of a "foreign invention not much 
 known in this country, called the hydraulic ram " ; and 
 the apparatus is recommended as serviceable where irriga- 
 tion is desired, and for farms properly situated as respects 
 a head of water, as being cheaper than the cost of a well 
 and pump, and yielding a water supply without manual 
 labor. 
 
 More than in the case of the threshing machine, solici- 
 tude was manifested for many years, by the trustees, for 
 the improvement of the plough — that implement which is 
 primary in all agricultural operations, and which, in its 
 rudest forms, has been said to mark the beginning of 
 human civilization. During a few years a premium was 
 offered " to the person who shall exhibit the best plough 
 for common purposes, of an improved construction, and of 
 his own invention." Ploughs were imported from Eng- 
 land, in one instance by the society, and in others by lead- 
 ing members, in the hope that the right model might be 
 found ; but no important gain appeared in the demonstral- 
 tions of either American or English ingenuity, in this line, 
 until a date which will be named below. The society's 
 importation was made in 1810, but no commendatory 
 report of the operation of the plough appears. At the 
 first public " ploughing match," given by the society in 
 1817, an English plough belonging to one of the members 
 and officers of the society, John Prince of Roxbury, was 
 used in the competition, which in part, of course, had to 
 do with the skill of the ploughman and driver. No 
 superiority appeared in the plough ; for it may be as- 
 sumed, from the well known character of Mr. Prince, that 
 he provided competent manual skill. Several other 
 
48 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 ploughs of the home-made sort did as well, and two did 
 better ; and for their work the premiums were awarded. 
 The later records of the society indicate that the first 
 satisfactory plough originated in this country, as certainly 
 did the main idea to which the improvement of the in- 
 strument is traceable. 
 
 While the evolution of the plough from the primitive 
 condition in which, as already described, it existed in 1792y 
 is not attributable to any measures taken by the society, 
 there is warrant for saying that an early and prominent 
 member of the society had some share in promoting the 
 improvement witnessed during the first twenty years of the 
 present century. The story of that advance in the plough- 
 making art is so intrinsically interesting, so pertinent to 
 the general theme here under consideration, and, in proper 
 narration, is brought so closely home to the society itself, 
 that it cannot be deemed a digression briefly to repeat it. 
 
 The " main idea " alluded to above, was given to the pub- 
 lic by Thomas Jefferson, througii letters addressed by him 
 to the French Academy and to the president of the British 
 Board of Agriculture in 1798. Mr. Jefferson's thoughts 
 were first drawn to the subject in 1T88. Travelling that 
 year in Lorraine, in France, he frequently alighted from 
 his carriage to watch the operation of the ploughs in use in 
 the fields, and, as a result of his observations, entered, at 
 the time, the following in his diary : '• The ofiices of a 
 mould-board are to receive the sod after the share has cut 
 under it, to raise it gradually and to reverse it. It should 
 be as wide as the furrow and of a length suited to the 
 construction of the plough." 
 
 In his letter to the president of the British Board he 
 elaborates this idea in description, and compares the action 
 t)f the mould-board to the movement of two wedges, so com- 
 bined as to present a curved surface. The function of one 
 wedge, he says, is to lift so much of the sod, or slice of 
 earth, as is necessary to the full height required, and the 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 49 
 
 function of the other is to exert force laterally and oblique- 
 ly to carry the sod so that its upper edge shall go beyond 
 the perpendicular, that it may be inverted by its own 
 weight. And he adds that the form of the mould-board 
 must be such as to present in its passage the least possible 
 resistance, and so require the minimum of moving power. 
 His further proposition is that a mould-board of this com- 
 pound-wedge sort can be constructed according to a mathe- 
 matical formula and by a process so exact, that, in the 
 hands of " any common workman its form will not vary 
 the thickness of a hair." He gives in detail a mathemati- 
 cal analysis of the problem and a description of the method 
 of manufacture. He has in mind in this description a 
 wooden mould-board, and says that in practice it works 
 well and that he has several such ploughs in use on his 
 farms. In his communication to the French Academy he 
 said that it would be well, having by the process wrought 
 out a perfect mould-board in wood, to use it as a pattern for 
 producing working mould-boards of cast-iron, and ex- 
 pressed intention to have such made for his own use. 
 
 The difficulty everywhere had been that no two mould- 
 boards were alike ; that the most skillful plough-maker 
 could not duplicate another's work, nor, " except by good 
 luck," repeat his own successes ; and that " when the mak- 
 ers of good ploughs died, their art died with them." The 
 merit of the discovery made by Mr. Jefferson was recog- 
 nized by both the institutions named. An authoritative 
 writer upon the subject says that the credit to be given 
 him must be restricted to his demonstration that ploughs 
 could be made by rule, and to the actual discovery of one of 
 the rules that are applicable to the formation of the mould- 
 board. 
 
 In an official printed list of persons'recognized as *' origi- 
 nal members " of the Massachusetts Society for Promoting 
 Agriculture, appears the name of Timothy Pickering. At 
 the date of the organization, and for many years afterwards^ 
 he resided near Philadelphia, and was also a member of the 
 
60 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 agricultural society of that place. Oue or two communica- 
 tions were received from him by the Massachusetts society 
 at this period, and after he became finally domiciled in this 
 State he was a frequent correspondent. He, also, was an 
 observer and student of the plough, but bestowed the re- 
 sults of his thinking in conversation, and in letter writing 
 to friends, as opportunity might invite, without distinctly 
 claiming to be a discoverer of new principles of plough 
 construction, nor attempting anything concrete in that line. 
 In one of his letters he wrote thus : 
 
 My employments in the war of the Revolution having 
 caused me to take my family to Philadelphia, I remained 
 there after its termination. During four years I lived in 
 the country and paid some attention to husbandry. One 
 day, learning to hold a plough (a good Pennsylvania plough 
 of that period), I observed that the earth, which was moist 
 enough to be adhesive, filled the hollow of the mould-board 
 and assumed a straight line from its fore-end near the 
 point of the share, to its upper projecting hind corner, and 
 that it maintained that same straight line. It then struck 
 me that this straight line should exist in every mould-board 
 and direct its curvature. 
 
 At a subsequent period when in Philadelphia, visiting 
 Mr. John B. Bordley, vice president of the Philadelphia 
 Agricultural Society, he handed me a small model of a 
 mould-board which Mr. Jefferson had left with him. At 
 first glance I saw the straight line before mentioned govern- 
 ing its form, and, asking Mr. Bordley's daughter, then at 
 her needle, for a piece of thread, I stretched it from the 
 lower fore part of the mould-board to its right upper over- 
 hanging fore corner. ^' Here," I said, to Mr. Bordley, 
 " is the principle on which this mould-board is formed." 
 
 I have given this detail to explain the opinion I now ex- 
 press, that the straight line therein described is essential to 
 the form of the mould-board of the least resistance. 
 Around this line the curvature should be formed. And, 
 by placing the lower edge or bottom of the mould-board on 
 a level floor, if another straight line be laid transversely on 
 the fore end or point of the mould-board and moved regu- 
 larly back on its face, in a plane perpendicular to the hori- 
 zon, it will touch the mould-board in its whole breadth, 
 throughout its whole length, provided the curvature be 
 
roil PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 51 
 
 correct. In a word, the curvature will be a portion* of a 
 spiral screw. Take a large screw augur for an exemplifi- 
 cation. No earth can be left on such a mould-board ; for 
 every succeeding portion of earth which the plough raises 
 pushes off that which is on the transverse straight line be- 
 hind it, and the face of the mould-board consists (is made 
 up mathematically speaking) of an infinite number of such 
 tranverse straight lines. 
 
 The angle which the straight line should form with the 
 sole of the plough is another material point, to be discov- 
 ered by experiments, and experiments are also necessary to 
 learn the proper angle of the essential straight line with 
 the land side of the plough, or to decide where lies the just 
 medium of breadth, of angle and^ength of mould board. 
 
 Col. Pickering does not give the date of his " learning to 
 hold the plough," other than by saying that it was soon 
 after the close of the war. His experience must have been 
 nearly contemporaneous with that of Mr. Jefferson in 
 Lorraine. It is noticeable that the two observers reached a 
 like conclusion by starting, mentally, from opposite positions. 
 Mr. Jefferson began with the thought that in the plough 
 there were two diversely acting wedges, one to lift and the 
 other to thrust. To blend these two into a properly hollowed 
 or curved surface was his problem. Mr. Pickering began 
 with the thouglit of the straight line in which the receding 
 earth moved over the mould-board, and, in imagination, on 
 that basis, shaped an ideal mould-board. When Mr. Jeffer- 
 son's model was called to his attention he saw his ideal 
 realized, and with reference to the straight line, exclaimed, 
 " Here is the principle on which this mould-board is 
 formed-" But it was not so. Mr. Jefferson did not begia 
 with a straight line and around it form the proper curvature, 
 but began with the outsides of his two co-working wedges, 
 and by mathematics, proceeded inward until the two were 
 blended ; and that blending proved to be the straight line 
 with which Mr. Pickering began. The coincidence was 
 inevitable, since the reasoning in each case had reference 
 to mathematical or geometrical laws. 
 
 This view of the matter is confirmed by a competent 
 
52 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 critic, a contributor to one of the publications of the Ne\sr 
 York Agricultural Society, who, in discussing the question 
 of the degree of originality in a plough or mould-board 
 pattern designed by Jethro Wood, a noted New York in- 
 ventor, having pointed out what part of the design was 
 original, says: "It is evident that Mr. Wood had no claim 
 as the inventor of a cast-iron plough, because he had been 
 anticipated in this by Newbold and several others. He 
 could not claim the vertical straight lines, as he had been 
 anticipated in these by Jefferson. He could not claim the 
 transverse line, for Col. Pickering had laid down this line, 
 long before him, on theoretical grounds, and Jefferson, with- 
 out any theory, had adopted it in practice.'' It is manifest 
 that this writer does not apply the word " transverse," 
 descriptively, in the same way that Col. Pickering did ; what 
 he calls vertical lines are the transverse lines of Col. 
 Pickering. Also, that in the expression, ' 'Jefferson with- 
 out any theory,'' he means, without any theory as respects 
 the particular line. 
 
 The first development of plough-making upon the new 
 principle, in this country, was made chiefly in New York 
 and New Jersey. Besides Newbold and Wood, already 
 mentioned, E. A. Stevens, David Peacock, Zadock Harris 
 and Henry Burden, all of the same region, gained some 
 Celebrity as plough-makers or designers. Of the two ex- 
 planations of proper plough-construction, as an abstract 
 problem, that of Col Pickering, using for a primary illus- 
 tration the surface of an augur twist, rather than that of 
 Mr. Jefferson, in which the illustration or comparison is to 
 the blending of a horizontal with a vertical wedge, seems 
 more likely to be grasped by a practical .or working me- 
 chanic ; and it is not an unreasonable surmise that some of 
 Col. Pickering's oral or written commentaries may have 
 drifted across the Pennsylvania border and assisted those 
 mechanics in elucidating and embodying the Jeffersonian 
 idea. 
 
 The earliest of these plough makers was Charles New- 
 
FOR PllOMOTING AGRICULTURE. 53^ 
 
 bold of New Jersey, who, as remarked above, was the first 
 to make a mould-board wholly of cast-iron. Prosperity did 
 not attend him, because of a local superstition ; for it is 
 said, in reference to his plough, that " the farmers had in 
 some way imbibed the strange notion that the cast-iron 
 plough poisoned the land, injured its fertility, and promoted 
 the growth of weeds.'' Bat towards the year 1817 Jethro 
 Wood triumphed over this prejudice, and ploughs of his- 
 design had a very extensive sale. All these plough makers 
 made certain variations from, ^r additions to, what the strict 
 terms of Mr. Jefferson's description call for. Indeed Mr. 
 Jefferson himself stated, subsequently to his first announce- 
 ment, that he had so done in ploughs made for his own use. 
 His object was to better the plough for his own farm work ; 
 theirs to achieve some improvement upon which to base a 
 claim for a patent. But the main principle was held to, 
 as appears in what was said above as to the degree of origi- 
 nality in Wood's plough. Of ploughs of the Wood's^ 
 pattern nearly 7000 were sold in 1817 and the two follow- 
 ing years, and of these more than 1,000 went, in the year 
 1818, to Virginia. In the period immediately following 
 there is no reason to suppose that Virginia's annual pur- 
 chase was less ; and, if not the actual numbers, the general 
 fact could hardly fail to become known to Mr. Jefferson,, 
 and must have been a very gratifying circumstance of his 
 declining years. 
 
 These New York ploughs, of one make or another, soon 
 reached Massachusetts, and, judging by a description given 
 in 1820, by a newspaper correspondent, who resided appar- 
 ently in the south-eastern part of the state, it was high 
 time. He says that in most parts of Massachusetts the Old 
 Colony plough and the Sutton plough were still in use. 
 The former he describes as having a ten-foot beam and a. 
 four-foot land side, and of the latter he says : ''They are 
 not fit to plough any land that has sod on it ; your farmers'" 
 furrows stand up like the ribs of a lean horse in tlie month 
 of March." And he adds, " The great objection to all these 
 
54 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 ploughs is that they do not perform their work well, and 
 that the expense for blacksmith's work in repairs is enor- 
 mous; six ploughs cost me last year an average of $6 each 
 for repairs." 
 
 To return to the record of the society : In 1819 the fol- 
 lowing letter was addressed to its corresponding secretary, 
 and, with its enclosure, was published in the next issue of 
 the Journal : 
 
 Boston, September 1, 1819. 
 
 I received, early in the spring of this year, from Isaac 
 Bronson, Esq., of New York, a plough denominated by him, 
 ^'Freeborn's patent plough." Having found, upon trial, 
 that it fulfilled all the expectations Mr. Bronson had pre- 
 viously raised concerning it, I requested him to write an 
 account of its character and success. His letter is enclosed, 
 which you are at liberty to publish sliould it be deemed 
 useful. 
 
 Concerning its superiority I have had the opinion of 
 -every practical farmer who has witnessed its operation, I 
 believe, without an exception. The effect upon my farm is 
 this : that I now break up, with ease, the same quantity 
 and qualities of land, say one acre, in a day, with one yoke 
 of oxen and one man, who both holds and drives, which was 
 never before, to my knowledge, broken up with less than 
 two yoke of oxen and two men. My ploughmen agree that 
 it takes one-third less power to do the same work, than 
 common ploughs require. One of them, to express his ap- 
 probation of it, said, " that poor as he was, if another such 
 plough could not be bought he would give ilOO, rather 
 than not have it, had he a farm of his own." It is the best 
 plough, beyond all question, I have ever had upon my farm. 
 Respectfully, I am your obedient servant, 
 
 JOSIAH QUINCY. 
 
 In the list, from which names of New York inventors 
 above mentioned are taken, that of Freeborn does not 
 appear. Some of these inventors sold to other persons 
 rights to manufacture, and Freeborn may have been a 
 purchaser and not an inventor. But that his plough was 
 constructed on " Jeffersonian principles," appears clearly 
 enough in an expression used in the letter enclosed, 
 viz.: "The plough passes through the ground with 
 
FOB PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 55 
 
 very little friction and with much less draught than 
 other ploughs of the same size, owing, probably, to the 
 spiral wind in the plane of the mould-board." The phrase 
 " spiral wind," though not used by Mr. Jefferson or Col. 
 Pickering, would not have been rejected by either. 
 
 It cannot be doubted that Mr. Quincy's unstinted praise 
 of the new plough took effect, and that the agricultural 
 readers of the Journal, and many of their farmer neigh- 
 bors, soon equipped themselves with that sort of an imple- 
 ment, by using two of which, the same number of men and 
 oxen could plough two acres instead of one, or one acre in 
 half the time. 
 
 That the stage now reached in the improvement of the 
 plough marked an extraordinary advance in the agricultu- 
 ral art is indicated by the concurrent approval, in foreign 
 lands, of the new method of construction, by the two great 
 institutions named, and the adoption of the method there, 
 and by the sudden expansion, in this country, of the plough 
 manufacture. The fact that ploughs of Jefferson's model 
 are not now used does not affect the proposition that a 
 great stride had been made. What was then solely sought 
 for, both in America and Europe, the plough that with the 
 minimum of power would best invert the sod, had been 
 obtained. A plough that with less economy of power 
 should serve also to break or disintegrate the sod had not 
 then been asked for. Herein, in part at least, lies the ex- 
 planation of the circumstance that after the year 1818, 
 during a period of twenty -two years, the Massachusetts 
 society offered no premium " for the best plough." 
 
 The cattle show of the Massachusetts society at Brigh- 
 ton, in 1816, though the first held in this section of the 
 State, had been anticipated in date by the Berkshire 
 County Agricultural Society, whose first exhibition took 
 place in 1811, at Pittsfield, and was thereafter an annual 
 event. This priority appears to have been a matter of con- 
 siderable pride on the part of members of that society, who 
 
56 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 somehow interpreted the congratulatory reports of the 
 Massachusetts society, respecting the series of shows begun 
 at Brighton, as having a tendency, if not a purpose, to- 
 diminish their own just renown. The Berkshire movement 
 owed its origin wholly, and its success largely, to the 
 ardor and energy of Elkanah Watson of Pittsfield. He 
 had travelled considerably in England and France, and 
 had observed the popular appreciation of cattle shows 
 and fairs there, and he possessed the somewhat rare 
 faculty of being able to infuse into those associated with 
 him a large measure of his own enthusiasm. There is 
 some reason for supposing that at that period there was a 
 stronger community feeling in Berkshire than in any other 
 considerable section of the State. At any rate, the cattle 
 show prospered there from the start, and its success made 
 an impression on the public mind wherever the fact be- 
 came generally known. 
 
 In 1823 John Lowell who had been the corresponding 
 secretary of the Massachusetts society from 1806, became 
 its president. In the first issue of the Journal after his 
 election he gave a somewhat extended review of the socie- 
 ty's transactions, with a purpose to vindicate it against 
 various unjust aspersions. He thus adverted to the Berk- 
 shire society : 
 
 But it has been intimated that this central society had 
 arrogated to itself merits, to which it was not entitled ; 
 that it had been tardy to do justice to the great and meri- 
 torious exertions of the Berkshire society. This is unkind ;. 
 we have always been prompt to acknowledge the early, ef- 
 ficient and intelligent efforts of that society. We have ad- 
 mitted that they were the first to give a spring to agricultu- 
 ral efforts by introducing the British and French system of 
 public shows of cattle and manufactures. Still, too much 
 must not be claimed on this score. It was not an original 
 thought. Many of us had visited the European shows, 
 and the subject of introducing them had been discussed^ 
 and there can be no doubt, that long ere this, they would 
 have been in full operation from the successful effect of 
 European example. This is not said with a wish to dimin- 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 57 
 
 ish the merit of Mr. Watson, Mr. Gold, Mr. Melville, and 
 Mr. Mackay, and the other " gentlemen farmers " of Berk- 
 shire. We know and acknowledge that they have done 
 everything in their power to promote an enlightened and 
 improved course of agriculture, and surely they may be 
 contented with this merit, without wishing to deprive other 
 societies of their humble share in this common cause. 
 
 The character of the witness sufficiently supports the 
 statement ; but one who should critically read the early 
 records of the society, though pursuing his task in an 
 " unkind " spirit, would be persuaded, that, whatever 
 motives had sway with the board of trustees, neither pre- 
 tence of self-importance nor pride of section was among 
 them. They gave place, at once, to anybody who would 
 lead the way, whatsoever the distance or the point of the 
 compass from which he approached. No clergyman could 
 be so obscure in fame, or pursue his calling so remote from 
 towns, but that his discourse, if befitting to the hour, found 
 place at the earliest opportunity in the society's periodical, 
 and himself prompt award of its first premium. Did 
 scientific merit manifest itself in distant " Down East ? '^ 
 It was welcomed and rewarded, and given opportunity and 
 scope in the gardens of Harvard College. Was it ascer- 
 tained that a New Hampshire man had made a more excel- 
 lent churn ; that a Vermont man had superior knowledge 
 about raising barley and brewing farm-house beer ; that a 
 Connecticut man had shown special enterprise in importing 
 better sheep ; that a New Yorker had produced the ideal 
 plough ? Though not specifically chartered to that end, 
 the society sent its medal or other encomium across the 
 State border in each instance, precisely as if the inventor 
 or discoverer had lived within sight of the State House 
 dome. No dubious thought about local prestige was enter- 
 tained. It was enough that somebody had appeared who 
 could lift the torch, for the enlightenment of the agricultu- 
 ralists of Massachusetts, a hand-breadth higher. All this 
 being so, it is not supposable that the society had any 
 peculiar jealousy about the doings at Berkshire. 
 
58 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 If the western end of the State was willing to lead off in 
 trying an experiment, no doubt the east and the centre 
 took pleasure in the fact, with a purpose to copy, should the 
 experiment prove successful. That it was an experiment 
 sufficiently appears in the accounts given by Mr. Watson 
 himself of it, and of his tremulous apprehension lest cer- 
 tain phases of the enterprise should fail of popular approv- 
 al and support. Although such shows in England, guided 
 and patronized by dukes and earls, and perhaps princes of 
 the royal blood, had been successful, it did not necessarily 
 follow that the results would be the same in dealing with 
 the plain farmers of Massachusetts. One bent on finding 
 something hidden or disguised in the motives to action or 
 non-action on the part of the trustees of the Massachusetts 
 society might better, perhaps, search in another direction. 
 In its early history the society had prejudices enough to 
 overcome, and epithets enough to endure without exposing 
 itself, needlessly, to the embarassment of the one or the 
 other. The proposal to give a cattle show was first made 
 to its trustees, and discussed by them, in 1801. Amidst the 
 hot politics that raged, during the following decade, it may 
 have been apprehended that any step, of the kind proposed, 
 would be declaimed about as an attempt to introduce "a 
 monarchical institution.'' But after the republican farmers 
 of Berkshire had set the example, that fear, if it had ex- 
 isted, ceased. 
 
 The suggestion made in 1801 was that the show should 
 be given in Cambridge ; but when, in 1815, a decision was 
 iirrived at, Brighton was chosen, as being already of fame 
 as a rendezvous for farmers at its cattle market, a fame 
 which dates as far back as 1775, when it was made the 
 headquarters, or place of assembling, of cattle and other 
 stores of the commissary department of Washington's 
 army, then besieging the town of Boston. The patriotic 
 associations of the place, though doubtless appreciated, had 
 no influence upon the decision of the trustees, but rather, 
 the fact that the premium cattle of the show would find 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 59 
 
 ready sale, if offered, at the contiguous market, and that 
 the hotel accommodations were ample. 
 
 The exhibition of 1816 comprised only neat cattle, sheep 
 and swine, first and second premiums being offered in each 
 classification, the total of premiums being $290. The cattle 
 pens were ranged along the south side of the main road, 
 now called Washington street, opposite to the Cattle Fair 
 hotel site of modern times, and within the enclosure then 
 called Winship's pasture. Nearly one hundred animals 
 -were in the collection, of a quality, as a whole, very satis- 
 factory to the trustees, who expressed opinion, in their re- 
 port, that the show would have been regarded creditable at 
 Smithfield, Lewes or Bath in England. The exhibit of 
 Merino sheep was of especial merit ; but the marked tri- 
 umph of the day was a milch cow, belonging to Caleb 
 Cakes of Danvers, and for which the first premium was 
 awarded. This animal had yielded, in twenty weeks, milk 
 for making 320 pounds of butter, and when milked upon 
 the field, at Brighton, the yield was nine quarts. Opinion 
 was generally expressed that the cow was unrivalled in 
 America or Europe. The society had a portrait of the 
 animal painted by a celebrated artist.* 
 
 The day was pleasant and the throng of spectators very 
 large. Among the guests were the Governor of the State, 
 Gen. Humphreys, president of the Connecticut Agricultural 
 Society, Commodore Bainbridge of the United States navy, 
 and Admiral Coffin of the British navy. It had been in- 
 tended that the public exercises should take place in the 
 Town Hall, but this proved too small for the eager audience, 
 and an adjournment to the Brighton meeting house was 
 made. This building is still standing at the corner of 
 Washington and Market streets. In these exercises were 
 comprised an address by President Dexter, of the society, 
 and the reading of a report by Secretary Lowell. During 
 the day the society and guests dined at Hastings' tavern, 
 
 *Tlie whereabouts of the portrait is at present unknown to the present 
 trustees, who ask for information that will enable them to find it. 
 
 /^<^^ OF TH1? ^J^ 
 
60 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 which was on the site of the modern Cattle Fair hotel. The 
 custom at the cattle-show dinners of early date, was to pro- 
 vide a set of regular toasts or sentiments, and persons 
 called upon responded, each with his own sentiment, and 
 not with a speech. Among the volunteer or responsive 
 toasts on this first occasion were the following: 
 
 The ox — the richest domestic gift of nature to the citizen 
 and the farmer. 
 
 The fine-wooled and coarse-wooled sheep — Heaven's next 
 best gift ; may we remember their merits, when the glass 
 is below the cipher, and not lay on their backs the folly of 
 our own speculations. 
 
 The best blessings to any people, a learned and pious 
 clergy ; may they practice what they preach and learn to 
 differ as though they differed not. 
 
 A speedy end to the farmer's three banes, mortgages, 
 dram-shops and a violent thirst for politics of any sort. 
 
 The editor of a Boston newspaper of the day said of the 
 event ! "It was pleasant to witness on this occasion the 
 total absence of party feelings and political prejudices. The 
 lion and the lamb lay down together. Public utility was 
 the order, and rural felicity, the sentiment, of the day." 
 The report read by Mr. Lowell gives some hint of the an- 
 tecedent considerations governing the action of the trustees. 
 It says : 
 
 Those opposed to the plan of a cattle show may ask why 
 the society should waste its funds in a scheme, the ten- 
 dency of which may seem to them to be only to multiply 
 the days of festivity and idleness, already too frequent, 
 and to endanger the morals of the citizens by collecting 
 them together in a situation, and under temptations, unfa- 
 vorable to correctness and sobriety. We are not unaware 
 that such collections of people may be subject to some evil. 
 But when we recollect upon how many less interesting 
 occasions, and among those some of questionable utility, 
 the people are called together, in which the principal effect 
 upon some would seem*to be to sharpen still more the as- 
 perity of party feelings, and to widen still further the 
 breaches in our community, it would appear to be a sufficient 
 apology to say, — let us unite in one object in which division 
 and irritable feelings can find no room for exercise, in an 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 61 
 
 assembly the sole end of which is the promotion of the 
 good of the whole community, and the advancement and 
 prosperity of the whole state. 
 
 The report further says that cattle shows had their be- 
 ginning in Great Britain ; that this example soon reached 
 the Continent, where its success, if not equally great, had 
 at least been considerable ; that one inducement which led 
 the trustees to take action, had been the accumulation of 
 society funds, through failure of due response to premiums 
 hitherto offered, tlie payments of premiums having mostly 
 been for importations of improved breeds of sheep ; that 
 in now turning its attention to the improvement of breeds 
 of domestic animals the society was following the example 
 of Europe and of the Berkshire County Society of this state; 
 that the premiums now offered amounted, in most cases, to 
 more than one-half the value of the animal, and in some 
 cases to the full value, added to which inducement, was the 
 certainty of a better sale for cattle, for which premiums had 
 been awarded ; and that the reason why premiums for 
 horses had not been offered was that the use of horses for 
 agricultural work was small in this country, as compared 
 with foreign lands, and the prices were already high enough 
 to encourage their breeding and improvement, " higher 
 tlian in any quarter of the globe with which we are ac- 
 quainted, where this animal is raised." 
 
 The cattle show of 1817 excelled its predecessor in many 
 respects. The amount of premiums offered was $1300, of 
 which $500 was granted by the Legislature. Three pre- 
 miums instead of two were offered in the classes of native 
 cows, fat oxen and working oxen. For sheep there were 
 eight premiums ; for native bulls, two ; for imported bulls, 
 two ; for imported cows, two ; also a premium for the most 
 wheat raised per acre ; the most turnips per acre ; for any 
 superior vegetable or grass ; for the best threshing machine, 
 the best seed-sowing machine, the best plough, the 
 most successful use of the drill plough, and for any other 
 agricultural invention deserving a reward. Other premiums 
 were for manufactures from wool of native sheep and 
 from cotton, the classification being of factory-made 
 and home-made. A ploughing match was provided for, 
 the first that had occurred in eastern Massachusetts, the 
 
62 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 total premiums therein being $56. The show continued 
 two days, October 14 and 15, the ploughing match taking 
 place on the second day. 
 
 An assemblage of more than 4000 persons was attracted 
 to Brighton on the first day to behold these promised won- 
 ders ; for they were such, then. Many came from New 
 Hampshire ; and other places, less distant, had representa- 
 tives and observers on the ground, all of whom on return- 
 ing home had something to say of a eulogistic character^ 
 which was helpful to the society in the direction of " pro- 
 moting agriculture.'' Any number of agricultural tracts 
 distributed over the same area would doubtless have done 
 far less ; not but that such tracts were useful, but the multi- 
 tude of that period would not ponder and read them. On 
 the first day more than 600 carriages were standing about 
 the streets of Brighton village. Hucksters' booths and 
 tents, which had sprung up like Jonah's gourd, occupied 
 the various points of vantage, and all things took on a holi- 
 day aspect. The animals exhibited occupied sixty pens, 
 which were stretched along the present Washington street, 
 within the Winship pasture, from the present Chestnut Hill 
 avenue nearly to Foster street. The Town Hall, which then 
 stood on the south side of Washington street, 350 feet east 
 of Chestnut Hill avenue, was used to exhibit manufactures,, 
 agricultural machines and tools, and vegetables. The pub- 
 lic exercises took place in the meeting house and the other 
 proceedings were similar to those of the preceding year. 
 A Boston newspaper editor of the period pronounced the 
 exhibition to have been " splendid and gratifying." 
 
 This display of animals, which, by the official and other 
 reports, was of great merit, was notable in two particulars, 
 especially, the pair of mammoth fat oxen from Springfield, 
 and the Westbrook heifer. They took the highest pre- 
 miums, and, by vote of the trustees, paintings of the three 
 animals were procured for the society. Measurements of 
 the oxen were taken for comparison with those of the most 
 celebrated EngUsh ox of that day, known as the Durham 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 6& 
 
 OX. A part of the figures given of the larger American 
 and the English ox are the follctwing : American, height at 
 the shoulders, 5 ft. 6^ in. ; length from nose to end of 
 rump, 11 ft. 3i in. ; greatest girt, 10 ft. 1 in. ; English, 
 height, 5 ft. 6 in.; length, 11 ft.; girt, 11 ft. 1 in. The 
 comparative weights are not given. The larger American 
 ox weighed 2,784 pounds, and the smaller, 2,320 pounds. 
 The age of the pair was 6i years. The Westbrook heifer 
 was notable as being the first adequate public demonstra- 
 tion, under the auspices of the society, of the great gains- 
 possible through judicious breeding. The heifer was partly 
 of native, but chiefly of English pedigree, the English 
 breed being that of the celebrated cattle breeder, Robert 
 Bakewell. At the date of exhibition the animal was 21 
 months old and weighed over 1700 pounds. At six months 
 old its weight was 600 pounds. In form it was regarded 
 superior to anything that had been seen of the same class 
 in this region, and besides the painting, the trustees had an 
 engraving made and published in the Journal for January, 
 1818. 
 
 Another notable affair, though not eligible for a pre- 
 mium, was a pair of women's shoes exhibited by William 
 Furnald of Charlestown, as evidence of the rapidity possi- 
 ble in the work of manufacture. On the first day of the 
 cattle show between the midnight hour and one o^clock A. 
 M., a goat was slaughtered at Mr. Furnald's factory. The 
 skin was removed, and before eleven A. M. had been prop- 
 erly Hmed, cleansed and tanned. Before one P. M. it had 
 been wrought into black morocco leather, and by 2.30 P. 
 M. the pair of shoes was finished and Mr. Furnald started 
 with them for the Brighton show grounds. 
 
 With reference to the exhibits of superior animals, the 
 official report makes the following remarks which are his- 
 torically instructive, in showing the facts of that day as to 
 breeding : 
 
 It is to be desired that our citizens and the world 
 should know that there exists no description of domestic 
 
64 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 animal of which Massachusetts cannot produce a specimen 
 equal, if not superior, to any in the most cultivated regions 
 of Europe ; but the general state of the breeds of our ani- 
 mals is far inferior to those of some countries. Our whole 
 State cannot produce as many fine cattle as are exhibited 
 in one week, at Smithfield market, on ordinary days. Yet, 
 in instances, we have the best. The milch cow of Mr. 
 Oakes, which took the premium last year is probably, in 
 point of productiveness, superior to any animal in the 
 world. The oxen offered this year from Springfield, and 
 the heifer from Westbrook, it is believed, are superior to 
 any animals of the like description existing anywhere. 
 
 With reference to the ploughing match the same report 
 :Says : 
 
 We have before us accounts of five celebrated ploughing 
 matches in England, the showing of which is that the labor 
 was performed by every one, even the slowest, of our 
 ploughs in nearly one half the time taken to perform the 
 same work in England. There was another circumstance 
 in the ploughing match which gave us pleasure, as evincing 
 a strong desire for improvement. There were no two 
 ploughs out of the twelve alike. They were all of them 
 uncommon, and had some peculiarity of modern invention. 
 
 This dissimilarity, and individualism in improvement, was 
 not destined to continue long, for the reason, that will 
 occur to the reader, that in the spring of the year 1819, 
 Mr» Quincy was to drive his team afield with a New York 
 plough attached, and, in the autumn, to announce, whether, 
 consciously or not, the beginning of a new era in plough- 
 ing. 
 
 The year 1818 was entered upon by the trustees with 
 hope and confidence. They could but mentally assent to 
 the newspaper's panegyric upon their recent fair, as splen- 
 did and gratifying ; and this gratification arose in part 
 only from the thought that their endeavors had been sus- 
 tained by the farmer contributors, and had proved popular- 
 ly acceptable. Its other source was in the perception that 
 they now had a new instrumentality, through which to reach, 
 and incite to better things, the conservative and somewhat 
 incredulous tillers of the soil. For them, henceforth, to 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 65 
 
 see and to believe might be happily joined. Early in the 
 season a committee of the board opened negotiations with 
 the selectmen of Brighton, looking to the permanent estab- 
 lishment of the cattle show in that town. They suggested 
 to the selectmen that in whatever town they should locate, 
 they should expect from it the gift of half an acre of land, 
 on which to set an agricultural hall, and the use of four 
 acres, near at hand, during six days in October, each year, 
 for the placing of cattle pens and the convenience of spec- 
 tators, having already had a proposition to that effect made 
 to them in a neighboring town. A town meeting was held 
 in Brighton, on June 8, and a committee was appointed. 
 The committee was able to report at the adjourned meeting 
 of June 15, that two offers had been made of gift to the 
 town, as desired. 
 
 One of these was from Samuel W. Pomeroy, who pro- 
 posed to grant the half acre on either side of the road near 
 his tavern, and the use of a field of ten acres opposite to 
 the tavern. This building was known as the Bull's Head 
 tavern and stood on the northeasterly side of the present 
 Washington street, 1,000 feet from Cambridge street, and 
 400 feet from Union street. The ten-acre lot was within 
 the area now bounded by Union street and Lexington 
 avenue. The other offer was from Abiel Winship, of a 
 half acre in the middle of his pasture, already referred to, 
 and a roadway to it, with the use of four acres in such part 
 of the field as he might choose, from time to time. The 
 thanks of the town were voted to each of the two citizens, 
 and the committee was directed to submit the two offers to 
 the trustees of the society. They chose the Winship 
 premises, as being more central in the village, and the half- 
 acre lot being, as the committee of the trustees express it 
 in their report, '' on elevated and beautiful ground, com- 
 manding an extensive view." The deed of Abiel Winship 
 to the society is of date, July 23, 1818, and has condi- 
 tions that in case the premises cease to be used for a cattle 
 show the land shall revert to the grantor ; also, that the 
 
•66 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 erection of booths, tents or buildings upon either the half- 
 acre or the four-acre premises, for the vending of liquors, 
 refreshments or articles of an3^ description, shall be subject 
 to the approval of the grantor. There is a stipulation that 
 the agricultural hall shall belong to the society in any 
 event. 
 
 The boundaries of the half-acre lot have been obliter- 
 ated by the conveyances of later times ; but a distinct 
 landmark appears in the public highway, now called 
 Dighton place, but, prior to annexation, Winship 
 place. This roadway, though originally four rods wide, 
 was the avenue of approach from Washington street to 
 the half-acre lot. The building erected by the society 
 was known as Agricultural Hall, and it stood in the centre 
 of the half-acre lot. Its site is within the open area that 
 makes the upper end of Dighton place, in front, or north 
 of the Bennett primary school house there. The position 
 of the south end of Agricultural Hall corresponds very 
 nearly with that of the north end of the school house. 
 The hall stood upon or near the height of land, and the 
 whole extensive tract about it thereafter took on the name 
 of Agricultural Hill. Many years afterwards the society 
 obtained a deed, from the administrator of the Winship 
 estate, of three and a half acres, adjoining the half acre 
 tract, so phrased that it could convey a good title to the 
 whole, without conditions. It sold the land to Stephen 
 H. Bennett, who made a donation of the school house lot 
 to the town of Brighton. 
 
 Agricultural Hall was a structure of 70 by 36 feet, 
 ground dimensions, and two stories high. The lower 
 story finished at twelve feet height, and the upper at ten 
 feet and seven inches. In the upper hall were hung vari- 
 ous paintings and engraved pictures, illustrative of agri- 
 cultural matters. The building was constructed during 
 the summer of 1818 and occupied by the society for the 
 show of that year. No ceremonies of breaking ground 
 or dedication took place, but, in conformity to the usage 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 6T 
 
 of that period, all stalwart and willing citizens were in- 
 vited to be present on August 25, when, as appears by the 
 society's cash book, the sum of 110 was paid " for liquors 
 for the raising." Within this building, annually, to 1835 
 (including that year, but excepting 1831 and 1834), were 
 displayed those various farm, household and factory pro- 
 ducts, which contribute to make up the typical agricultu- 
 ral exhibition. In front of it each year, on the chief 
 festival day, the members of the society and guests were 
 formed by the society's four marshals, in procession, and 
 moved down the broad avenue to the main street and to 
 the meeting house, keeping step to the martial notes of 
 drums, fifes, clarinets and cymbals. In the meeting house 
 the annual address and other public exercises took place. 
 For some years after the first occupancy of the hall the 
 cattle pens were aligned as in 1816 and 1817 along the 
 •roadside, but latterly the southerly slope beyond the crown 
 of the hill, and south of the hall, was set apart for the 
 purpose. There the sight-seeing throngs stood and gazed 
 in pleasant October days upon the assembled herds and 
 flocks, or, becoming weary of that, and of the curiosities 
 arrayed in Agricultural Hall, strolled about the " beautiful 
 and elevated grounds," and viewed the " extensive pros- 
 pect." Agricultural Hall was removed, after the sale of 
 the society's land in 1844, to the easterlj^ corner of Chest- 
 nut Hill avenue and Washington street, where it still 
 stands, substantially unchanged, and is used as a store. 
 
 The exhibition of 1818 comprised a much larger number 
 of animals than either of its predecessors, and was superior 
 also in respect to their average quality. The attendance 
 of spectators was equal or greater. At the society's din- 
 ner 200 persons sat at the table. The lower story of the 
 agricultural building was used for exhibiting farming 
 machinery and implements and mammoth vegetables ; the 
 upper story for manufactured textiles and other light 
 goods. The successive exhibitions, for many years, pre- 
 sented no important new features, but the festival annu- 
 
68 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 ally increased in popularity, and this notwithstanding the 
 attraction of county society shows, which had been organ- 
 ized. The show of 1821, for example, had more than 100 
 neat cattle, and more than 300 animals in all, and this, as 
 the official report says, " notwithstanding that three very 
 respectable county societies had sprung up full grown in 
 our immediate vicinity." The newspaper report of this 
 show says that Agricultural Hall ought to have been 
 twice as large to accommodate all that wished to see 
 excellent things therein. Of the series of shows a few 
 peculiarities are mentionable. That of 1818 had, for one 
 of its exhibitors, the indefatigable Charles Vaughan, of 
 Hallowell, one of the charter members and original trus- 
 tees of the society. He exhibited a superior boar and 
 took the first premium. In 1819 a fat ox from Waltham 
 was in the show, weighing 2798 pounds. At that time 
 the newspaper reporting, excepting what related to mar- 
 ket prices and shipping, was usually done by the editor, 
 who was not to be drawn out of his sanctum unless some- 
 thing specially important was going on. The editor of 
 the Boston Sentinel evidently speaks as an eye-witness 
 of the show of 1819, and, after mentioning the great crowds 
 and whence they came, says, " Many came by the way 
 of the Mill-dam corporation's bridge, and had a short but 
 pleasant walk and opportunity to witness the progress 
 made in an enterprise so vast, and which promises to he 
 of much public utility." The enterprise alluded to, a& 
 will generally be apprehended, was not that of the Agri- 
 cultural society, but of the Mill-dam corporation. In 1821 
 a fat ox from Hatfield was exhibited, weighing 2573^ 
 pounds. The official report remarks upon the great im- 
 provement manifest in specimens of swine, proving that 
 the advantage of careful bree.ding was becoming generally 
 understood. In 1821 the total of premiums offered was 
 $2,000. As usual, some were not competed for, but the 
 total payments for premiums were 11,244. A new manu- 
 facture was exhibited by the inventor, John Johnson, of 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 69 
 
 Marblehead, namely, seines and herring nets of cotton 
 twine, which were preferred by the fishermen of Marble- 
 head to those of hemp, whether of American or foreign 
 manufacture. A premium of 110 was awarded. The 
 superiority of the progeny of various animals of choice 
 foreign breeds now exhibited was officially noted. 
 
 In 1822 persons were present from all the New England 
 states and some of the southern states. In 1823 a Sicilian 
 squash three feet long, raised at Brookline, from foreign 
 seed, was shown ; also ears of corn 14 inches long, raised 
 in Roxbury, from seed obtained in Missouri; also large 
 onions from Tripoli seed ; also elderberry wine, of which 
 the official report remarks that " it is reputed to be very 
 wholesome,'' seeming to signify that it was a new thing, 
 or at least not familiarly known. In 1824 a pair of fat 
 oxen from Shrewsbury, weighing 5000 pounds, were in 
 the exhibition ; also a mule. In 1825 a plough was exhib- 
 ited with a " self-sharpening point," the sharpening being 
 effected by reversing the piece when it became worn. The 
 official report of it says, " Your committee had no evidence 
 of the instrument's having been used and approved by 
 practical farmers, and therefore do not deem it within 
 their authority to grant a premium." In 1826 a satis- 
 factory threshing machine was exhibited, which, with 
 horse-power, in seven hours, would thresh 203 bushels of 
 oats. In the official report the trustees renew their decla- 
 ration in favor of cast-iron ploughs, and say that although 
 they cost more at first they are cheaper in the end. In 
 1827 one of the committee on milch cows was " Thomas 
 Williams of Noddle's Island," a localization which sounds 
 queer now, but did not then. In 1828 the official report 
 speaks with congratulation upon the fact that of 12 
 ploughs, in the single-yoke ploughing match, 10 were of 
 cast-iron, and that in the double yoke match six of the 
 nine ploughs were cast-iron. In another official report of 
 this year something of protest appears as to a proposed 
 repeal of the law, by which the society had an annual 
 
70 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 grant from the State ; and it is remarked, as showing that 
 the grant is not one for local benefit, that " three-fourths- 
 of the society's premiumsjare dispersed in countries not 
 contiguous to the capital." In 1829, among the animals 
 exhibited, were three jacks or male donkeys. 
 
 In 1830 the effect of the counter-attractions, which 
 the county societies were able to offer, became manifest 
 in some degree ; for the show of animals was smaller 
 than during many preceding years. It was excellent 
 in quality, however, and the official report remarks that 
 in the pens " there was scarcely one^ animal of pure 
 native breed of cattle, sheep or swine." The attendance 
 of spectators was about as usual — that is very large ; and, 
 as previously, the festival amounted to a general holiday 
 for Brighton village. It was notable also as being the day 
 of first occupancy, by any large company or society, of 
 the famous Cattle Fair Hotel. An account of the festival 
 says : " The society dined in the lower hall of that spa- 
 cious and elegant building, the Cattle Fair Hotel. 
 Although the hall was unfinished it was very beautifully 
 decorated with flags and banners, surrounded by the 
 graceful pine and larch, and the posts entwined with 
 evergreens." Some hint that modern times, in the way 
 of agricultural tools, were approaching, will appear to 
 many readers, in the statement, that among the articles 
 shown in Agricultural Hall, were ploughs of iron, from 
 David Prouty, of Hanover, and from Nourse & Co., of 
 Sherburne. There was no diminution of interest in the 
 ploughing match, either as respects the competitors or the 
 spectators. For the match with two yoke of oxen, 
 eleven competitors entered, a larger number than on any 
 previous occasion. In fact more desired to enter, there 
 being thirteen teams present. Only eleven lots had been 
 measured off and two teams had to be set aside. In re- 
 gard to both the single and double-team matches, the 
 committee of awards report that they gave express instruc- 
 tions to the ploughmen, that the teams should not be 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 71 
 
 hurried, and that shortness of time was no object in com- 
 parison with good work. In the earliest ploughing match- 
 es time had been an important element in the decision. 
 
 A departure from this standard was announced in the 
 programme for the show of 1825, and now, in 1830, the 
 new standard appears to have been rigidly insisted upon. 
 This change of standard is doubtless traceable to the 
 performance of a team and ploughman in the ploughing 
 match of the year 1819. The plough was entered for 
 the competition by Josiah Quincy, and no doubt the 
 ploughman followed his instructions. On that occasion 
 the single-yoke and double-yoke teams competed together. 
 Mr. Quincy's team was a single yoke. There were six 
 teams. The three double-yoke teams did the work in 38, 
 42 and 43-^ minutes, respectively. The two single-yoke 
 teams did it in 55 and 55i minutes, respectively. Mr. 
 Quincy's team did it in 1 hour and 49 minutes. All the 
 lots were, of course, of the same size. Doubtless the com- 
 mittee found their pre-conceptions to be rather shaken 
 up ; but after due cogitation and looking over the ground, 
 they made up their report to read : " In considering the 
 performance of Mr. Quincy's plough, your committee were 
 constrained, in some measure, by their construction of the 
 terms on which the premiums were offered (viz., *' the 
 best work with the least expense of labor,") to place time 
 against good work, as the work of this plough was un- 
 questionably the best in the field, and the team under 
 exemplary discipline." Accordingly, Mr. Quincy, not- 
 withstanding the lateness of his team in arriving at the 
 end of the last furrow, was awarded the third premium. 
 It may be remarked, with a view to add desirable definite- 
 ness to this record, that from the beginning, tlie plough- 
 ing matches took place on some field a short distance 
 away from what may be called the show grounds. Prior 
 to the building of the Boston and Worcester railroad, a 
 field near Market street, now crossed by the railroad, was 
 used) and on some later occasions the ten acre lot opposite 
 to the Bull's Head tavern. 
 
72 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 In 1831 the cattle show was omitted. In making the 
 announcement, the trustees speak of the satisfactory results 
 which had been attained through the cattle shows of the 
 society during the preceding fourteen years, more especial- 
 ly in respect to stimulating better practices among the farm- 
 ers in the breeding of neat cattle, sheep and swine. To 
 this, they say, tlie shows of the county societies have con- 
 tributed greatly, and will continue to be effective in that 
 way. This favorable state of things, they say, will justify 
 the application of the society's funds to other important 
 objects. They therefore propose to continue the usual pre- 
 miums for farm management, orchards, largest corps per 
 acre, etc., and to give an exhibition of butter and cheese on 
 December 7, in the rotunda of the new Faneuil Hall mar- 
 ket building, in Boston. This announcement, though rather 
 ominous as respects the permanency of the Brighton cattle 
 show, did not prove immediately fatal. The people of 
 Brighton were much dissatisfied by the interruption, and 
 the leading farmers in counties south of Boston, where no 
 shows had been established, joined in protesting. 
 
 In 1832 the show was resumed at Brighton and proved 
 to be an event of considerable magnitude, though not equal 
 to many of its predecessors. The report of the trustees 
 in regard to it remarks upon the increased interest mani- 
 fested, all over the State, in agriculture and in exhibitions 
 made for its encouragement. At this exhibition an award 
 was made for one novelty, which, though an humble 
 affair in the province of agriculture regarded as a whole, 
 was, and continues to be, of much importance in seashore 
 farming towns, where salt-marsh hay is extensively har- 
 vested. The official report on the matter was as follows : 
 ^' Ira Draper of Saugus, entered for a premium, mud shoes, 
 to be used on horses* feet in wet, soft and marshy ground, 
 by use of which horses in light wagons, with suitable 
 wheels as to width, can remove hay with much greater de- 
 spatch than in the usual mode with carts and oxen, and 
 not poach or cut up the ground. They were recommended 
 as having been used to great advantage, in certificates from 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 73 
 
 Mr. Oliver of Saugiis, and Joseph Harris of Chelsea. The 
 committee award to Mr. Draper for his mud shoes, $5." 
 Ill the ploughing match of 1832, a premium was offered for 
 the best plough. This however requires no modification of 
 a foregoing statement, that for twenty-two years after 1818, 
 no premium for the best plough was offered. The offer 
 .now made was obviously to induce competitors to use the 
 -most efficient instrument obtainable, in order to achieve, 
 for the credit of the society, and for the instruction of the 
 by-standers, the most perfect result in the way of a 
 -ploughed field. It is quite possible that there were better 
 ploughs in Agricultural Hall in 1832, than any on the field, 
 ?but they got no premium. 
 
 The show of 1833 is described as having been of merit 
 ;and attractiveness, with fewer cattle than usual in the pens. 
 Although the day was cloudy and rainy, there was a great 
 concourse of people on the grounds. The official organ of 
 the society at that time, the New England Farmer, com- 
 ments thus upon the situation, and there is no reason to 
 doubt that it is a just judgment : " The principal cause of a 
 diminution of cattle exhibited at Brighton, may be found 
 in cattle shows of other parts of the State. Another cause 
 may be that fine animals have become so common that they 
 are scarcely considered as a rarity. Excellence ceases to 
 be remarkable when it becomes general." Another consid- 
 eration is to be kept in mind, for a proper understanding, 
 at the present time, of the decline and cessation of the 
 society's annual exhibition, which, for many years was 
 probably not exceeded, if equalled, in its magnitude and 
 quality, by any like demonstration in this country. Even 
 as late as 1835, railroads were in their veriest infancy. 
 The few then existing in Massachusetts had no proper 
 facilities, if their managers had any disposition, to under- 
 take the transportation of farm animals to and fro, nor did 
 they provide frequent conveyance for passengers. Specta- 
 tors in sufficient numbers appear to have been within call. 
 "TThe real difficulty was with the cattle, using the word to 
 
74 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 mean all farm animals. These had to be brought and 
 returned on foot or in farm wagons, over long, and so, im- 
 practicable roads. Thus the shows flourished best away 
 from the vicinity of the metropolis where the cattle were 
 few, in the districts where they were numerous. 
 
 One more and a final effort was made to keep up the an- 
 nual holiday at Brighton. No cattle show was held in 
 1834, but a butter show was given in Boston. In 1835 the 
 last of the cattle shows took place, and in many respects 
 was a notable aiBfair. Among the exhibits was a bull and 
 three cows of the Ayrshire breed, which had been imported 
 by the society at a cost of $1,175. Among the notable 
 men present at the society's dinner, some of whom were 
 members of the society, were Lieut. Governor Armstrong, 
 Daniel Webster, Edward Everett, Judge Story, Abbott 
 Lawrence, Gen. H. A. S. Dearborn, ex-Governor Lincoln, 
 and Dr. Julius of Prussia. Each of these made a brief 
 speech at the dinner. Daniel Webster became a member 
 of the society in 1822, and in 1833 was chosen one of the 
 trustees. At the cattle show of 1835 he served the society 
 in another capacity, which is denoted in the toast by which 
 he was called up for a speech after the dinner, viz : 
 
 Our senator in Congress, and chairman of the committee 
 on bulls, milch cows and yearlings. 
 
 The record sustains the averment of the toast, for the re- 
 port, for the year 1835, of that classification, of animals is 
 signed by Daniel Webster, Asa G. Sheldon and Elijah 
 Perry. On another occasion, the society dinner of 1832, 
 Mr. Webster had been recognized in the double capacity of 
 a distinguished statesman and a practical and zealous farm- 
 er. This was the first time the society had met at dinner 
 subsequent to the delivery of Mr. Webster's celebrated 
 speech in reply to Hayne. The toast of that dinner of 
 1832 was : 
 
 Our senator in Congress— a New Hampshire farmer: 
 though he generally manages more by the voice than the 
 goad, he can, on proper occasions, take the bull by the 
 horns. 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 15r 
 
 At the successive annual dinners, many witty and perti- 
 nent sentiments were produced. Among them a few seem 
 to retain something of their original sparkle, despite the 
 lapse of time. At the dinner of 1824 the following was of- 
 fered by Col. Timothy Pickering : 
 
 The free-masonry of agriculture, which finds a brother in 
 every clime. 
 
 On the same occasion Gen. H. A. S. Dearborn proposed 
 the following. 
 
 The memory of Blackstone^ who designated the site of 
 Boston, and planted the first orchards in Massachusetts and 
 Rhode Island. 
 
 At the dinner of 1825 the following was among the 
 regular toasts : 
 
 The memory of the great unknown, who invented the 
 first plough ; and honor to Mr. Jefferson, one of the princi- 
 pal improvers of that indispensable implement. 
 
 In 1832 among the guests were Mr. Audubon, the re- 
 nowned ornithologist, and Dr. Spurzheim, the originator or 
 discoverer of phrenology. These two sentiments were of- 
 fered at the table : 
 
 Our scientific countryman, John James Audubon — the 
 flight of the eagle is not beyond his reach, nor the tenants 
 of the poultry yard beneath his notice. 
 
 Our honored guest. Dr. Spurzheim — he reveals to us the 
 secret import of our " bumps ; " we greet him with a 
 bumper. 
 
 The record indicates that the society's dinner usually 
 took place at the Dudley Tavern. This stood opposite ta 
 the junction of the two roads now called Cambridge and 
 Washington streets. The city of Boston is building at the 
 present time a police station upon the site of the ancient 
 inn. The spot is about 700 feet east of the meeting house, 
 so that on these occasions the procession was re-formed 
 after the public exercises were ended, and the march was 
 continued to the place of dining, giving the drums, fifes 
 and other instruments a second opportunity to electrify the 
 throngs that occupied the wayside. In a few instances the 
 
76 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 dinner was given at the Bull's Head tavern, adding about 
 1,000 feet length to the route of procession. The charge 
 for dinner tickets was sometimes $1.25 and sometimes 
 fl.50, each. Probably the table was more abundantly 
 spread on these high-priced days. Among the society's 
 dusty files may be found a manuscript, which evidently 
 served as a standard or model for preparing, annually, a 
 written bill of fare as copy for printing, and also for making 
 a draft of a contract with the caterer. The list of viands, as 
 thus displayed., may prove interesting to those having in 
 charge similar entertainments at this period, and to others 
 who may like to be put in a way to judge whether the same 
 fidvance has been made in this, as in other departments, of 
 agricultural activity. It is as follows : 
 
 Bill of fare for the dinner at the Cattle Show of the Mas- 
 sachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture : 
 
 Legs of mutton, boiled. Chickens, boiled. 
 
 " roasted. " roasted. 
 
 Beef, roasted. Turkeys, boiled. 
 
 " a la mode. " roasted. 
 
 Pigs roasted. Geese, roasted. 
 
 Hams. Ducks, roasted. 
 
 Oyster Sauce. 
 Cranberry sauce. Jelly. Celery. 
 
 Pies. Puddings. Tarts. Custards. 
 
 Madeira wine — Cider. 
 Melons, musk and water. Apples. Pears. Grapes. Peaches. 
 
 Below this memorandum, on the same sheet of old 
 manuscript, is the following : 
 
 Memorandum of an agreement made between of 
 
 Brighton, of the one part, and the trustees of the Massa- 
 chusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture, on the other 
 part : 
 
 The said agrees to prepare and provide for the 
 
 said society at their annual cattle show on the inst. an 
 
 excellent dinner, agreeable to the above recited bill of fare, 
 .at the price of one dollar and fifty cents for each person, 
 and to furnish fifty bottles of Madeira for every hundred 
 guests, and in that proportion for as many persons as may 
 be present ; and that the wine shall be of a quality equal, 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 77 
 
 at least, to the best wine sold by J. D. & M. Williams for 
 13 a gallon, and that everything provided, from the substan- 
 tial to the lighter dishes, vegetables, fruit, etc., shall be of 
 the best kind which can possibly be procured, and that the 
 waiters shall be the best, and in numbers sufficient for easy 
 attendance upon everybody. 
 
 Then follows a clause covering a guaranty on the part of 
 the trustees that the caterer shall be paid at least a certaio 
 sum, to secure him against loss in the event of a stormy 
 day and thin attendance. 
 
 Some hint has been given of the distinction of these oc- 
 casions in the mention of names of eminent men. In this- 
 classification belong some of the members of the board of 
 trustees ; and all were men of note. Mr. Webster, after he 
 became a trustee, was probably regularly present at the fes- 
 tival, though not always mentioned in the curt news 
 reports of that period,. which, in some years fail to give 
 any names of guests. Col. Pickering and Judge Story 
 were frequent attendants. Edward Everett, then known 
 as Professor Everett, appears to have been regarded as in- 
 dispensable, in the after dinner proceedings, after his first 
 appearance in 1822, though he did not become a member of 
 the society till 1850. The Governor usually represented 
 the State, and, in his absence, the lieutenant governor, and 
 sometimes both were present. The judges of the highest 
 State court were among those regularly invited. In 1818 
 John Adams, ex-president of the United States and also of 
 the society, was a guest. As coming from distant places 
 are mentioned from time to time Judge Buel of Albany, 
 Judge Smith and Hon. Francis Granger of New York, 
 Hon. Matthew Carey of Philadelphia, Hon. Mr. Calvert of 
 Maryland, J. S. Skinner of Baltimore, William Crafts of 
 South Carolina, Mr. Lee of Virginia, and others as dele- 
 gates from agricultural societies in New Hampshire, Con- 
 necticut, Maine, Pennsylvania and Canada. In 1816 Com- 
 modore William Bainbridge was a guest, his laurels stilF 
 fresh that he had won upon the deck of the frigate Consti- 
 tution, and in 1820 Commodore Isaac Hull, with like laurels, 
 
78 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 won upon the same vessel, when he was its commander. It 
 seems to have been the practice to extend an invitation to 
 the commander of any naval vessel in the port of Boston, 
 at the time, whether of the American or other nationali- 
 ties. In 1827 Capt. Basil Hall of the British navy, and 
 General Ccfifin of the British army were present. Doubt- 
 less the list might be much extended had any record been 
 kept. The British consul was an occasional or frequent 
 guest, and, that no other consuls appear to have been, is 
 probably attributable to difference of language, whereby 
 the convivial wit and oratory had a lesser attraction for 
 them. That these abounded there is ample evidence ; but 
 everything was done in the New England fashion. It is 
 recorded of one of the dinners that Rev. John Foster, D. 
 D., of Brighton, asked the blessing before the banquet, and 
 Rev. John Pierce, D. D., of Brookline, offered thanks at its 
 close. This was, no doubt, in conformity with the usual or- 
 der of proceeding. 
 
 It may be remarked that, while, as respects the dignity 
 of these occasions, the presence of leading citizens and 
 intelligent agriculturalists of distant places is testimony, 
 in its proper degree, it is significant also as showing that 
 the reputation of the society's exhibitions was wide- 
 spread ; and a reasonable implication would be that the 
 society's influence for much or for little was co-extensive. 
 These visitors were in a sense envoys — self-appointed, 
 indeed, some of them, or perhaps unconscious of having 
 any such function. But when they returned home they 
 made report among their neighbors as to what the men 
 of bright wits and long purses in Massachusetts were do- 
 ing to promote agriculture, what stage of advancement 
 in the art the exhibition gave proof of, and what skill and 
 what methods were requisite for success in holding such 
 exhibitions. And it cannot be doubted that, in instances, 
 the instruction thus conveyed was promotive of agricul- 
 ture in those far countries. 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 79 
 
 The public exercises in the meeting house were always 
 opened with prayer, usually, if not invariably, by the 
 Brighton pastor. The annual address in most instances 
 dealt with such problems and demands of the agricultural 
 art, as the stage of development reached at the particular 
 time, might suggest. But much variety of treatment was 
 possible, and so it happens that a part of the credit justly 
 due to the Massachusetts society is for contributions 
 made, through its orators, to the literature of eloquence. 
 Three specimens, one in aim and effectiveness, but diverse 
 as, perhaps, is possible in style, will illustrate this phase of 
 the society's experience, and permit the reader to decide, 
 if he can, which is the excellent orator, or, so to speak, 
 where should be awarded the " premium." 
 
 In 1822 the address was delivered by Timothy Picker* 
 ing. In one of the society's publications it was referred 
 to in these terms; ''Col. Pickering's address is said to 
 have been too practical to suit the ladies, who had come 
 in great numbers to hear him. It savored less of the 
 flowers than of the compost from which they spring.^' 
 The recorder confessedly obtained his information at 
 second hand. Compost was, indeed, one of the topics. 
 There is no mention of flowers, even by allusion. Nor 
 did the orator indulge in so much as a flower of rhetoric 
 thoroughout his long discourse, and varied from an inex- 
 orable plainness only in one slight touch of facetiousness. 
 But of the chrystalline possibilities of English speech one 
 might search far for a better example. He began as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 " It appears to be expected that at each of your anniversary meet- 
 ini^s, a discoursa^on agriculture should be delivered. The trustees 
 of the society ha^e requested me to address you at this time. But 
 though willing to be laid under contribution to the great object of 
 your institution, it has occasioned a degree of solicitude to present 
 something meriting your attention. From the multitude of books 
 written on the subject of agriculture— embracing in that word what- 
 ever should employ the thoughts and labors of the skillful husband- 
 man—the Held would appear almost boundless ; yet to select topics 
 particularly interesting to the farmers of Massachusetts, and here to 
 discuss them so as to communicate useful and acceptable informa- 
 tion, was not unattended with difficulty. My address must necessa- 
 rily be miscellaneous. 
 
 Philosophers and practical husbandmen have for ages employed 
 
80 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 their thoughts and their pens on the various operations in agricul- 
 ture ; yet diversities of opinion still exist, and the reasons of many of 
 those operations have been little more than conjectural. What con- 
 stitutes the food of plants has long been a subject of diligent inquiry. 
 It was natural to suppose that if this food could be discovered, it 
 could more easily be provided, or at least more efficaciously adminis- 
 tered. The palpable differences which distinguish the immense 
 variety of plants in their forms, textures, colors and tastes, naturally 
 suggested the idea that each variety required its specific nourish- 
 ment. Yet, it being a matter of common observation that the same 
 soil would nourish and bring to maturity multitudes of different 
 plants, of very opposite qualities— some yielding wholesome food and 
 others a deadly poison — at the same time all growing together and 
 robbing one another, a nobler and more simple idea presented itself 
 —that the food of all plants was the same, but that each species was 
 endued with the power of converting that food to its own peculiar 
 substance; as, among animals, the same grain, produced all the varie- 
 ties of flesh which go to sustain the life of man," 
 
 Having thus stated the problem, the speaker proceeded to his solu- 
 tion, which may be given in his own words, omitting a few connect- 
 ing clauses : 
 
 " By the modern discoveries in chemistry, these mysterious effects 
 seem to be accounted for. For it appears that all kinds of plants are 
 composed of a small number of elements, whose different arrange- 
 ments and combinations produce all the varieties in question. The 
 three principal ingredients in the food of plants, and which, by them 
 elaborated, constitute the food of man and other animals, are named 
 by chemists, carbon, oxygen and hydrogen; in;other words, charcoal, 
 vital air and inflammable air ; and these exist in the air we breathe as 
 well as in manures consisting of vegetable and animal matters. It 
 may seem incredible that the thin air, an invisible matter, should 
 be changed in the process of vegetation into solid substances, as 
 wood and stone. But nothing has been more clearly ascertained 
 than that in lUO parts of pure limestone, forty-flve parts are fixed air 
 or carbonic acid. This, in the act of burning the stone into lime, is 
 expelled; for if at that time the stone be weighed it will be found to 
 have lost so much of its original weight. It is also well known that 
 this same lime, which, slaked with water or exposed to air, falls down 
 into a powder, will immediately afterwards begin to imbibe fixed air 
 or carbonic acid from the atmosphere, and eventually, though slowly, 
 recover its original weight." 
 
 Having remarked that while the same food furnishes nourishment 
 to a variety of plants, he said it is also true that plants have prefer- 
 ences among the variety of soils, and that soils like plants consist of 
 different proportions of the same elements, and then adds : 
 
 " Four earths generally abound in soils, and these by chemists are 
 called aluminous, siliceous, calcareous and magnesian ; and of these 
 the three first are the principal, and, in familiar language, well known 
 to every farmer as clay, sand and lime. Calcareous earth is consid- 
 ered as essential to give to soils the capacity of attaining to the 
 highest degree of fertility. Few soils, indeed, are wholly destitute 
 of calcareous matter, but very few possess so large a proportion of it 
 as would be salutary. Limestone is the great source of calcareous 
 matter. But this is of various qualities. To know, then, the consti- 
 tution of the lime he uses is important to the farmer." 
 
 Pursuing the chemical problem a little farther, the speaker quoted 
 Sir Humphrey Davy's explanation of manner in which lime acts upon 
 
FOR PKOMOTING AGRICULTURE. 81 
 
 the soil, but gives preference to that of John Young, a writer ou ag- 
 riculture, which in brief is that lime in the soil acting either as a 
 carbonate or hyper carbonate, though chiefly as the latter, absorbs 
 carbonic acid, a most important article of vegetable food, which car- 
 bonic acid is copiously evolved in the putrefactive process of manures; 
 and also, when there is a scarcity of aliment in the soil, the lime 
 absorbs carbonic acid from the air and disperses it according to the 
 calls of vegetation. Having thus elucidated the theory of lime as a 
 co-worker with manures under the soil and air above it, the speaker 
 cited experiences of farmers in Scotland, England, Pennsylvania, 
 Delaware, and, by implication, in Essex^ county, to show that lime of 
 the right kind has the effect which the theory calls for. Then he 
 proceeded to a discussion of barn-yard manure, and described how 
 the farmer by adopting a different from the prevalent practice could 
 double the available quantity of it by the method of composting. 
 Then taking up the topic of breeding he gave this Interesting 
 passage : 
 
 "In respect to live stock it is gratifying to see the spirit excited 
 within the last five or six years to attend to their melioration by p>re- 
 serving some of the most promising for breeders instead of sending 
 them to the shambles, ana by introducing from other countries some 
 individuals, already highly improved. New England was originally 
 granted to merchants of Plymouth, in the country of Devon, in Eng- 
 land. It is natural to suppose that some of the early settlers sailed 
 from Plymouth and brought with them the Devon breed of cattle. 
 The uniform red color of various shades, some deep red approaching 
 to brown, now so commonly seen among us, are probably descendants 
 from the Devon race originally imported. Their uniform red color 
 corresponds with a distinguishing mark of the Devon breed, now so 
 highly improved and celebrated in England. Among our own, in- 
 dividuals of this stock might be selected, admitting, with equal care, 
 of equal improvement on the principles now so well understood by 
 English breeders, who are indebted for them to the celebrated Robert 
 Bakewell. On the same principles all our other domestic ani- 
 mals may be improved. And this course appears to me indispensable 
 for the speedy attainment of extensive improvements of our stock, of 
 neat cattle especially. More than one generation must pass away be- 
 fore highly improved races from the few imported animals can be 
 generally obtained. In this important work every substantial farmer 
 in the country ought to engage, and by their rival efforts in every 
 county the great object might be attained. Beauty of form is de- 
 sirable, and will merit attention ; but strength for labor and ample 
 supplies for the dairy are more important. A disposition to fatten at 
 an early age, a point of excellence zealously sought for in England, 
 where husbandry labors are chiefly performed by horses, is not of 
 material consequence to farmers in New England, where oxen for 
 draught and cows for the dairy constitute the most interesting 
 stock." 
 
 On the topic of good butter the speaker expressed doubt that it 
 could be produced in summer without the aid of ice houses or spring 
 houses, and said that Philadelphia had the reputation of better sum- 
 mer butter than any other city in the United States. This he attrib- 
 uted to the spring houses of that region, which he described thus : 
 
 "Over these springs small houses are erected, usually of stone. 
 
82 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 The room of the spring-house may be from ten to twenty feet square, 
 according to the quantity of milk to be provided for. Trenches are 
 made on the four sides of the floor, bottomed and lined with flat 
 stones. The residue of the floor is likewise paved with stones. The 
 water from the spring enters at the side of one trench, runs all 
 round, and at the opposite side passes away at a hole left in the wall. 
 The under side of this hole is at such a height above the bottom of 
 the trenches as to raise the water just enough to keep the milk cool 
 in the pans, which are placed in it. This water runs perpetually 
 from its source, and as constantly passes off at the outlet. In one of 
 the trenches are also set the cream pots and the pots of butter the 
 night before it is carried to market." 
 
 It was in touching upon his next topic that the orator became 
 slightly facetious, with reference to the impracticability of premiums 
 in the given case, and in so doing implied a compliment to the farm- 
 ers whom he addressed. He said : 
 
 " Much has been said and written concerning an evil which per- 
 vades our whole country, from one extreme of the Union to another, 
 the general use of spirituous liquors, prevailing, in the opinion of 
 wise and good men, to a mischievous excess. Sometimes it has been 
 hoped that agricultural societies might find means to check the per- 
 nicious practice. But the class of farmers who abstain from it must 
 be too numerous to become candidates for premiums on temperance. 
 Besides, such prudent men need no remuneration for their abstinence. 
 Here, virtue is indeed its own reward." 
 
 The orator then referred to the general use by farm laborers in 
 France and Spain of small wines, instead of ardent spirits, and added 
 that a French gentleman with whom he had conversed on the subject 
 admitted that such wine was not equal to good American bottled 
 cider. Upon the topic of cider thus opened up, the orator discoursed 
 at considerable length, with reference solely to the best method of 
 producing it. He dissented from the prevalent idea that any kind of 
 apples will serve in majs:ing good cider, and renounced specifically 
 what used to be called "cider apples," which he terms "wild un- 
 grafted fruit," and then proceeded: 
 
 "In some parts of New Jersey in which ciders of superior excel- 
 lence are made, the farmers produce them wholly by grafting; nor 
 can we expect fully to rival th^m until we adopt the same practice. 
 In Massachusetts probably different kinds of trees might be selected 
 for orchards which ripen their fruits at the times most proper for 
 making them into cider. Apples until mellow do not attain their 
 highest flavor, and till then cannot give the highest flavor to cider. It 
 would require but little attention to select and propagate the best ap- 
 ples, thus ripening in succession. Such ciders, made of ripe and un- 
 mixed fruits, would also be more easily manasred in the most difficult 
 and important part of the process of cider-making, its first fermenta- 
 tion, on the right or wrong conducting of which the character of the 
 cider depends. In one case it will be soft and pleasant; in the other 
 hard and austere." 
 
 The next topic of the address was the ploughing in of green crops 
 for fertilization which was treated at considerable length. The fol- 
 lowing was the peroration : 
 
 " It is supposed, and justly, that these public shows by exciting an 
 emulation among farmers will lead to important improvements incur 
 husbandry. The general question whichthe case presents is, ' What 
 
FOP. PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 83 
 
 will be the easiest, cheapest and most effectual means to accomplish 
 -this great object?' A principal one has been to grant premiums for 
 the greatest crops of specified plants on given quantities of land. 
 One pleasing result has appeared, that, by ample manuring and good 
 culture, the usual crops of the same plants may be doubled and treb- 
 led. But is it necessary to continue premiums of this kind? May not 
 now the entire management of farms, rather, claim attention? Instead 
 of numerous small premiums, dispersed on a variety of objects 
 might they not be advantageously concentrated for the purpose here 
 intimated — the cleanest, most economical, the most productive man- 
 agement of farms? For it must be such a general improvement of 
 the entire farm that will constitute the farmer's permanent prosper- 
 ity. 
 
 In ploughing the just aim must be to make a straight furrow and of 
 uniform breadth and depth, and so to turn over the furrow-slice as 
 completely to cover whatever plants or manure are upon it. All this 
 cannot be effected with a hurried step. And what benefit can possi- 
 bly result from such a step? A farmer's oxen at the plough must 
 labor a great part of the day to properly turn over an acre. To do 
 this without a driver will require a skillful ploughman and well- 
 trained oxen. To encourage the forming of such ploughmen 
 and oxen, should I conceive, be the sole object of ploughing 
 matches. Working oxen at the plough may be considered as well 
 trained when they obey the voice of the ploughman, keep the track 
 in which they ought to move, and step as quickly as will be compati- 
 ble with the necessary continuance of their labor. And as the 
 annual exhibitions at this place have demonstrated the practicability 
 of performing the general operations of the plough with one yoke of 
 oxen, without a driver, it may merit consideration whether premiums 
 should not be thus limited in all future trials with the plough. Un- 
 der such limitations every farmer who is ambitious to exhibit proofs 
 of superiority in these points, would be sensible that his oxen must 
 attain a certain size, and be, though not fat, yet well-fleshed, which 
 would give strength to their sinews and momentum to their exer- 
 tions. With such oxen all our agricultural labors would be so well 
 perfoi-med that there would be no room to envy the condition of 
 farmers in any of our sister states, in some of which their horses 
 consume, perhaps, as much grain as would furnish bread to all the 
 inhabitants of New England." 
 
 It may be remarked that the trustees acted upon two 
 of Col. Pickering's suggestions in the following year, 
 when they offered a premium, through certain of the 
 county societies, for the best cultivated farm, and modified 
 the regulations of the Brighton cattle show, so that pre- 
 miums were given in the ploughing match for single- 
 yoke teams and double-yoke teams, separately. Previously 
 all had ploughed in one competition. It was made optional 
 with owners of single teams, however, whether or not to 
 have a driver other than the ploughman. A premium 
 ^^ for the best farm," to be awarded upon the judgment of 
 a committee of the trustees, was first offered in 1830. The 
 reason for non-action previously, is stated in the report 
 
84 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 of 1830 to have been, that '^ the district, over which the 
 society extends, being so large, it would not be practica- 
 ble for the trustees personally to inspect the farms of the 
 applicants. In this respect the county, or local societies, 
 have a great advantage over ours." When the practice 
 was entered upon, in 1830, the sworn statements of appli- 
 cants were taken as the basis for decision. Still later the 
 trustees employed an agent to visit farms thus in compe- 
 tition. 
 
 The orator of the year 1820 was Josiah Quincy. He, 
 like Col. Pickering, was familiar with both the practice 
 and theory of farming. An adequate apprehension of 
 theory and practice was the habit of his mind, not better 
 illustrated in conducting a farm than administering the 
 affairs of a city or a university. In preparing his address 
 he had both a practical and a literary end to serve. As 
 to the former he withheld nothing requisite to a proper in- 
 struction of his farmer audience ; was blunt and plain 
 almost to the point of audacity in the homiletic part of 
 that instruction, and, withal, dealt as aptly as seems pos- 
 sible in regard to the sensibilities of the ladies. He began 
 as follows : 
 
 The board of trustees of the Massachusetts Society for 
 Promoting Agriculture, have requested that I should ad- 
 dress you this day on topics connected with the objects 
 of their institution, and with the occasion. In acceding 
 to their appointment I have yielded to considerations of 
 official duty. For the manner in which the task shall be 
 executed, I need not apologize to practical and intelligent 
 men, such as I have now the honor to address. They know 
 well how difficult it is to cast over a trite subject the air 
 of novelty, or to make one that is familiar, interesting. 
 There is also something in the every day labors of agri- 
 culture apparently too rough for a polished discourse, too 
 common for one that is elevated, and too inseparable from 
 soil and its composts to be treated, to the general [ear, 
 without danger of offence to that fastidiousness of fancy', 
 which is miscalled refinement. 
 
 Amid the perils which thus surround every public 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 85 
 
 speaker upon such topics, where on the one hand the 
 rough necessities of the farmer require plainness and par- 
 ticularity, and where on the other the over-scrupulous- 
 ness of the imagination requires that important subjects 
 of agriculture should be generalized and intimated, rather 
 than uttered, I shall deem myself sufficiently fortunate if 
 it shall be my lot to escape without failing in fidelity to 
 the interest of the country, and yet without violating the 
 dainty ear of city sensibility. Our purpose, then, this day 
 is to seek what is true and what is useful in relation to 
 the interests of our agriculture. 
 
 In executing this purpose I shall address myself chiefly 
 to that great body of our countrymen who are emphati- 
 -cally called, farmers ; by which I mean the great body of 
 Massachusetts yeomanry, men who stand upon the soil 
 and are identified with it ; for there rest their own hopes 
 and there the hopes of their children. Men who have for 
 most part great farms and small pecuniary resources ; who 
 are esteemed more for their land than for their money ; 
 more for their good sense than for their land, and more 
 for their virtue than for either. Men who are the chief 
 strength, support and column of our political society, and 
 who stand to the other orders of the state in the same re- 
 lation which the shaft bears to the pillar ; in respect of 
 whom all other arts, trades and professions are but orna- 
 mental work, the cornice, the frieze and the Corinthian 
 capital. 
 
 I am thus distinct in declaring my sentiment concern- 
 ing the importance and value of this class of men from no 
 purpose of temporary excitement or of personal concilia- 
 tion, but because I think it just, and their due, and 
 because, being about to hint concerning errors and 
 defects in our agriculture, I am anxious that such a 
 course of remark should not be attributed to any want of 
 honor or respect for the farming interest. Whatever 
 tends to stimulate and direct the industry of our farmers, 
 whatever spreads prosperity over our fields, whatever 
 carries happiness to the home and content to the bosoms 
 of our yeomanry, tends more than everything else to lay 
 the foundations of our republic deep and strong, and to 
 give the assurance of perpetuity to our liberties. 
 
 The errors and deficiencies of our practical agriculture 
 may be referred in a general survey with sufficient accu- 
 racy to two sources, the want of scope of view among our 
 
86 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 farmers and the want of system in their plans. Those to- 
 which I shall allude will not be such as require anyjextent 
 of capital to rectify. All that will be requisite is a little 
 more of that industry of which our farmers have already 
 so much, or that industry a little differently directed. It 
 is not by great and splendid particular improvements that 
 the interests of agriculture are best subserved, but by a 
 general and gradual amelioration. Most is done for agri- 
 culture when every farmer is excited to small attentions 
 and incidental improvements ; such as proceed, for in- 
 stance, from a constant application of a few plain and 
 common principles. Such are, that, in farming, nothing 
 should be lost, and nothing should be neglected ; that 
 everything should be done in its proper time, everything 
 put in its proper place, everything executed by its proper 
 instrument. These attentions, when viewed in their in- 
 dividual effect, seem small, but they are immense in the 
 aggregate. When they become general, taken in connec- 
 tion with the dispositions which precede and the conse- 
 quences which inevitably follow such a state of improve- 
 ment, they include, in fact, everything. 
 
 Scope of view in a general sense has relation to the wise 
 adaptation of means to their final ends. When applied to 
 a farmer it implies the adaptation of all the buildings and 
 parts of a farm to their appropriate purposes, so that 
 whatever is fixed and permanent in its character, may be 
 so arranged as best to facilitate the labor of the farm and 
 best to subserve the comfort, convenience and success of 
 the proprietor. Our ideas upon this subject may be best 
 collected from inspection. 
 
 If our fellow farmers please, we will therefore in imag- 
 ination adjourn for a few moments, and take our stand 
 first at the door of the farmhouse. I say " at the door." 
 Far be it from me to enter within it. Far be it from me 
 to criticise the department of the other sex, or to suggest 
 that anything peculiarly subject to their management can 
 be either ameliorated or amended. Nor is it necessary ; 
 for I believe it is a fact almost universally true, that where 
 the good man of the family is extremely precise and reg- 
 ular and orderly in his arrangements, without doors, he 
 never fails to be seconded, and even surpassed, by the or- 
 der, the regularity and neatness of the good woman 
 within. 
 
 Let us cast our eyes then about us, from the door of 
 
FOR PKOMOTING AGRICULTUKE. 87 
 
 the farm-house. What do we see? Are the fences on 
 the road in good condition ? Is the gate whole, antl on 
 its hinges ? Are the domestic animals excluded from im- 
 mediate connection with the dwelling house, or at least, 
 from the front yard ? Is there a green plot adjoining, 
 well protected from pigs and poultry, so that the excel- 
 lent housewife may advantageously spread and bleach the 
 linen and yarn of the family ? Is the wood-pile well lo- 
 cated, so as not to interfere with the passenger, or is it 
 located with especial eye to the benefit of the neighboring 
 surgeon? Is it covered, so that its work may be done in 
 stormy weather ? Is the well convenient, and is it shel- 
 tered, so tliat the females of the family may obtain water 
 without exposure, and at all times, and in all seasons? 
 Do the subsidiary arrangements indicate such contrivance 
 and management as that nothing useful should be lost, 
 and nothing useless offend ? To this end are there drains, 
 conveying what is liquid in filth and offal to the barn- 
 yard or the pens ? Are there receptacles for what is solid, 
 so that bones and broken utensils may occasionally be 
 carried away and buried? If all this be done, it is well ; 
 and if, in addition to this, a general air of order and care 
 be observable, little more is to be desired. The first proper 
 object of a farmer's attention, his own and liis family's 
 comfort and accommodation is attained. Everything 
 about him indicates that self respect which lies at the 
 foundation of good husbandry, as well as of good morals. 
 But if any of us on our return home should find our 
 door barricaded by a mingled mass of chip and dirt ; if the 
 pathway to it be an inlaid pavement of bones and broken 
 bottles, the relics of departed earthen ware or the frag- 
 ments of abandoned domestic utensils ; if the deposit of 
 the sink, settle and stagnate under the windows, and is- 
 neither conducted to the barnyard, nor has anything pro- 
 vided to absorb its riches and to neutralize its effluvia ; if 
 the nettle, the thistle, the milk-weed, the elderberry, the 
 barberry bush, the Roman wormwood, the burdock, the 
 dock and the devil's apple, contend for mastery along the 
 fences, or flower up in every corner ; if the domestic ani- 
 mals have fair play round the mansion, and the poultry 
 are roosting on the window stools, the geese strutting 
 sentry at the front door, and the pig playing puppy in the 
 entrj^ the proprietor of such an abode may call himself a 
 farmer, but, practically speaking, he is ignorant of the A. 
 
S8 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 B. C. of his art. For the first letters of a farmer's alpha- 
 bet ^re neatness, comfort, order. 
 
 As we proceed to the farm we will stop one moment at 
 the barnyard. We shall say nothing concerning the ar- 
 rangements of the barn. They must include comfort, 
 <}onvenience, protection for his stock, his hay and his fod- 
 der, or they are little or nothing. We go thither for the 
 purpose only of looking at what the learned call the ster- 
 corary, but which farmers know by the name of the ma- 
 nure heap. Will our friends from the city pardon us if 
 we detain them a moment at this point? Here we stop, 
 the rather, because here, more than anywhere else, the 
 farmers of Massachusetts are careless and deficient; be- 
 cause .on this, more than on anything else, depends the 
 wealth of the farmer, and because this is the best criter- 
 ion of his present and the surest pledge of his future suc- 
 cess. What then is its state ? How is it located ? 
 Sometimes we see a barn-yard on the top of a hill, with 
 two or three rocks in the centre, so that whatever is car- 
 ried or left there is sure of being chiefly exhaled by the 
 sun or washed away by the rain. Sometimes it is to be 
 seen in the hollow of a valley, into which all the hills and 
 neighboring buildings precipitate their waters. Of con- 
 sequence all its contents are drowned or water-soaked, or, 
 what is worse — there having been no care about the bottom 
 of the receptacle — its wealth goes off in the under strata, 
 to enrich, possibly, the antipodes. The Chinese, for aught 
 we know, may be the better for it, but it is lost forever to 
 these upper regions. 
 
 Now all this is to the last degree wasteful, absurd and 
 impoverishing. Too much cannot be said to expose the 
 loss and injury which the farmer thus sustains. Let the 
 farmer want whatever else he pleases ; but let no man call 
 himself a farmer who suffers himself to want a receptacle 
 for his manure, water-tight at the bottom and covered at 
 the top, so that below nothing shall be lost by drainage, 
 and above nothing be carried away by evaporation. Let 
 every farmer wanting such protection for his manure be 
 assured that he loses by the sun and rain ten-fold as much 
 as will pay all his taxes, state, town and national, every 
 year. 
 
 The speaker next discussed the topic of interior fences 
 in the arable or cultivated part of the farm and declared 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 89 
 
 them to be worse than useless. He urged that pasture 
 land should be separated by a sufficient fence from the 
 •cultivated land, and that the condition of the separated 
 areas should be a permanent one ; that no beasts should 
 be permitted to range upon the soil destined for the plough 
 and the scythe ; that nothing is gained by pasturing mow- 
 ing-land, because any apparent gain is offset by the labor, 
 cost of building and keeping in repair interior fences, by 
 loss of time in ploughing through frequent turning about 
 of the team, and loss of crops at the '* head-lands," where 
 barberry bushes, nettles and injurious weeds grow, and 
 field mice, wood-chucks, skunks, and squirrels inhabit; 
 that surplus stones may be disposed of by thickening the 
 outer walls, or by building them into pyramids and cov- 
 ering them with grape vines; and that, while pasture 
 land may profitably be divided by interior walls, arable 
 land, though it were a hundred acres, should be in one 
 lot, for then the plough runs clear in a long furrow. 
 Upon the topic of building farm houses he said : 
 
 ''The fault is not peculiar to farmers — it is true of men in 
 .almost every rank and condition of life — that when about 
 to })uild they often exceed their means, and almost always 
 go beyond the real wants of their families, and the actual 
 requisition of their other relations in life. But let not the 
 sound, practical good sense of the country be misled by the 
 false taste and false pricle of the city, where wealth, ferment- 
 ing by reason of the greatness of its heaps, is ever fuming 
 away in palaces, the objects of present transitory pride, and 
 too often of future long- continued repentance. 
 
 Now wliat do we sometimes see in the country ? Why, 
 a thriving farmer, touclied with this false taste, will throw 
 up a building thirty or forty feet square, of two or two and 
 a half stories height, four rooms on a floor, with an im- 
 mcasureable length of outbuilding behind. And what is 
 the consequence of all this greatness ? Why, often, for 
 years the house will not be wholly glazed ; or if glazed, not 
 clapboarded ; or if clapboarded not finished ; the destined 
 portico never put up ; the destined front step never put 
 down ; and the ragged clapboards on each side of the front 
 .door, there they stand, year in and year out, staring and 
 
90 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 gaping at each other with a look of utter despair of ever 
 being united. And if you go into these mansions, what do 
 you see? Why, you will often find that while the good man 
 of the house and his consort are snugly provided with warm, 
 well-plastered rooms, ttie children and all the rest of the 
 family sleep about in unfinished chambers, subject to every 
 sort of exposure. And the '' best room,'' as it is called in 
 the original plan of the mansion, there it stands, the lum- 
 ber room of the family for lialf a century, the select and 
 eternal abode of crickets and cockroaches and all sorts of 
 creeping and skipping things, full of old iron and old leath- 
 er, the stuffing of decayed saddles, the ragged relics of torn 
 bed quilts, and the orts and ends of twenty generations of 
 corn cobs. 
 
 When will man learn that his true diginty, as well as 
 happiness, consists in proportion? In the proportion of 
 means to ends, of purpose to means, of conduct to the con- 
 dition in life in which a kind Providence has placed him. 
 The pride of the farmer should be in his fields. In their 
 beauty, in their order, in their product, he should place the 
 gratification of his humble and honorable ambition. The 
 farmer's great want is capital. Never sliould his dwelling 
 be splendid at the expense of his farm. In the farm all 
 that is surplus in his capital should concentrate. Whatever 
 is uselessly expended elsewhere is so much lost to his fami- 
 ly and his fortune. 
 
 Want of system in agriculture leads to loss of time and 
 increase of expense. System has chief reference to the 
 succession of crops ; to sufficiency of hands, and to selec- 
 tion of instruments. As to the succession of crops, called 
 rotation, almost the only plan of our farmers is to get their 
 lands into grass as soon as possible, and then to keep them 
 in grass as long as possible. The consequence of this prac- 
 tice, — for it deserves not the name of a system— is to lead 
 to the disuse, or rather to the least possible use, of that 
 great source of agricultural riches, the plough. According- 
 ly, it has almost become a maxim tiiat the plough is the 
 most expensive of all instruments. And so it is, and so it 
 must be, as the business of our farms is managed. By 
 keeping lands down to grass as long as possible, that is as 
 long as tlie hay product will pay for mowing, the con- 
 sequence is that our lands, when we are obliged, reluctantly, 
 to put the plough into them, are bound and matted and 
 cross-barred with an impervious, inextricable, infrangible 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 91 
 
 web of root and sod. Hence, results a grand process, called 
 '' a breaking up," with four, five or six bead of cattle, as the 
 case may be ; with three men, one at the ox-head, one at the 
 plough-beam, and the third at the plough handle. Is there 
 any wonder that such a ploughing apparatus is an object of 
 aversion? It is impossible for any man to witness a 
 '' breaking up," of this kind, without being forcibly reminded 
 of the reflection made by a dry Dutch commentator on that 
 passage in the book of Kings, where it is said that Elisha 
 was found " ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen." " Well," 
 said the commentator, "it is no wonder that Elisha was 
 glad to quit ploughing for*"prophesying, if he could not 
 break up with less than twelve yoke of oxen." 
 
 In fact the plough is the natural instrument of the farm- 
 er's prosperity, and the system of every farmer ought to 
 have reference to facilitating and increasing its use. Let 
 a rotation be adopted embracing two or three years succes- 
 sive ploughings, for deepening and pulverizing; the crops to 
 be succeeded by grain and grass for two or three years 
 more. The plough on its return every five, six or seven 
 years finds, in such case, the land mellow, soft, unimpli- 
 cated by root, and tender in sod. The consequence is that 
 a breaking up is then done with one yoke and one man. 
 The expense is comparatively small. There is nothing ta 
 deter, and everything to invite, the farmer to increase the 
 use of that most invaluable of all instruments. It ought to 
 be a principle that our farming should be so systematized 
 that all breaking up should be done with one yoke of oxen 
 and one man, who both drives and directs the plough. 
 
 Systematic agriculture also requires sufiiciency of hands. 
 Although this is a plain dictate of common sense, yet the 
 want of being guided by it is one great cause of ill success 
 in our agriculture. Because we hear every day that " labor 
 runs away with profits in farming," almost every farmer 
 lays it down, as a maxim, to do with as little labor as possi- 
 ble; and it almost always results in practice in doing with 
 less than he ought. Labor wisely directed and skillfully 
 managed, can, in the nature of things, resultin nothing else 
 than profit. The great secret of European success in agri- 
 culture is stated to be, " much labor on comparatively little 
 land." Now the whole tenor of Massachusetts husbandry 
 from the first settlement of the country has been, little labor 
 on mucli land. Is it wonderful, then, that success should 
 be little or nothing, when conduct is in direct violation of 
 the principle on which success depends? 
 
•92 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 The speaker closed with a series of apothegms applicable 
 in practical agriculture. 
 
 In 1833 Edward Everett was the orator. It may be deemed 
 •certain that he had no practical knowledge of the art of 
 turning a furrow, and improbable that, at that date, he had 
 •ever superintended the laying out of a carrot field, or even 
 the setting of a hedge- row. He therefore did not take the 
 point of view of Col. Pickering, nor, as a farmer speaking 
 to brother farmers, adopt the admonitory tone of Mr. 
 Quincy. He began thus : 
 
 It is generally admitted that since the establishment of 
 cattle shows in this country, the condition of our agricul- 
 ture has manifestly improved. Before that time, our hus- 
 bandmen seemed to want those means of improvement and 
 encouragement to action, which are enjoyed by their fellow 
 citizens engaged in several other pursuits. Instead of liv- 
 ing together in large towns, they are scattered over the sur- 
 face of the country. Instead of having two-thirds of every 
 newspaper filled with advertisements or information relative 
 to their occupation, as is the case with merchants, the most 
 they could promise themselves was that the weight of an 
 •enormous vegetable should be faithfully recorded, and the 
 memory of some calf with two heads or six legs should be 
 handed to posterity. They held no conventions and assem- 
 blies, like the clergy and physicians ; were not brought to- 
 gether, like the lawyers, at the periodical terms of court to 
 take counsel with each other, and seemed not to possess, in 
 any way, the means of a rapid comparison and interchange 
 of opinion and feeling. Since the establishment of the cat- 
 tle shows of the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agri- 
 <iulture, and those of the several county societies, this state 
 of things has been greatly amended, and to a very consid- 
 erable degree through the agency of these institutions. 
 
 The cultivators of the soil are now brought together. 
 Their agricultural improvements, their superior animals, 
 their implements of husbandry, the products of their farms, 
 their methods of cultivation, are all subjects of inquiry, 
 comparison and excitement. The premiums proposed have 
 given a spring to the enterprise of the cultivators, not on 
 account of the trifling pecuniary reward which is held out, 
 but through the influence of a generous spirit of emulation. 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTUEE. 9^ 
 
 The agricultural magazines and newspapers take up the 
 matter in this stage and give all desirable notoriety to what 
 is done and doing. The knowledge of every improvement 
 is widely diffused. Increased prosperity begins to show 
 itself as the reward of increased skill and knowledge, and 
 thus the condition of the husbandman is rendered more 
 comfortable and more honorable. 
 
 The orator then entered upon a historical survey of the 
 conditions of agriculture from the earliest times, premising 
 that with agriculture, civilization begins ; that where it does 
 not exist, progress is not possible, as is evinced in the con- 
 dition of the Arabs and the Tartars, who roam with their 
 flocks and herds over a vast region, destitute of all those 
 refinements which require for their growth a permanent 
 residence, and a community organized into the various pro- 
 fessions, arts and trades, and who are found, now, after the 
 lapse of 4000 years, in the same condition in which they ex- 
 isted in the days of Abraham. The Greeks and the Ro- 
 mans, he said, held agriculture in honor, especially the 
 latter. The farmer was with them a respected and inde- 
 pendent citizen. Cincinnatus, who was called by Livy 
 " the hope of the Roman empire," was found, when called 
 upon to take the position of supreme ruler, engaged in labor 
 upon his farm of four acres. At a later period great land- 
 holders who owned slaves were numerous ; but the class 
 which tilled their own small farms did not disappear till 
 the ' overthrow of the empire by barbarous tribes. Under 
 the sway of feudalism, which followed, those who cultivated 
 the soil were serfs, attached to the soil and sold with it, as 
 the cattle of the farm. 
 
 In the contemporary period, the orator found in Europe 
 and America (not including slaves), four classes of cultiva- 
 tors of the soil. The first in the list were serfs or the farm 
 laborers of Russia, living in conditions but little better than 
 that of the vassals under the feudal system ; the second, 
 those cultivating farms '' at halves," that is for half the an- 
 nual product ; the third, the tenants of farms by lease, the 
 condition generally of farmers in England ; and the fourth, 
 
94 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 those who own the soil they till, which, he said, was the 
 prevalent condition of the cultivators of the soil in the non- 
 slaveholding states of this country, especially those of New 
 England. He then said • 
 
 I cannot but express my conviction that this condition is 
 the most favorable to the prosperity of the state and the 
 happiness of the individual. It will immediately be per- 
 ceived that it is not inconsistent with the possession of some 
 very ample landed estates by individuals. In a country 
 like ours, where every man's capacity, industry and good 
 fortune are left free to work their way without prejudice, as 
 far as possible, there will be among the agricultural as well 
 as among the commercial population, fortunes of all sizes, 
 from that of the man who owns his thousand acres, his 
 droves of cattle, his flocks of sheep, his range of pastures, 
 his broad fields of mowing, and tillage, down to the poor 
 cottager who can scarce keep his cow over winter. There 
 will always be, in a population like ours, opportunities 
 enough for those who cannot own a farm, to hire one, and 
 for those who cannot hire one, to labor in the employment 
 of their neighbors who need their services. And when we 
 maintain that it is for the welfare of society that the land 
 should be cultivated by an independent yeomanry, who own 
 the soil they till, we mean only that this should be the gen- 
 eral state or condition of things ; not that there should be 
 no such thing as a wealthy proprietor, whose lands in whole 
 or in part are cultivated by a tenant, no such thing as a pru- 
 dent husbandman taking a farm on a lease, or an industri- 
 ous young man, without any capital but his hands, laboring 
 in the employment of his neighbor. These are parts of the 
 system as it exists among us ; and we maintain that it is a 
 better system than the division of the country into a few 
 vast domains, cultivated by a dependent tenantry, to the al- 
 most total exclBision of the class of small, independent 
 farmers. 
 
 Am I asked, why it is better? This is a question not 
 easy to bring down to a dry argument. It involves political 
 and moral considerations ; it trenches upon the province of 
 the feelings ; it concerns the whole character of a people. 
 In a pecuniary point of view it is, of course, not maintained, 
 that, because it is desirable that the cultivator of the soil 
 should own a farm, it is therefore expedient in all cases that 
 he should attempt to purchase one. It cannot be assumed, 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. .95 
 
 as a general rule, that it is better for a young man to buy a 
 farm than to hire one, supposing him to have no more cap- 
 ital than is necessary to stock his farm and purchase 
 implements of husbandry. But supposing that he is so 
 circumstanced, that, besides stocking his farm, he can do 
 something towards purchasing it at the outset, with a rea- 
 sonable expectation that in the course of time, with industry 
 and frugality and temperance, he can make it his own, then 
 it is better that he should purchase tlian hire. The owner 
 makes improvements with zeal and spirit, for he makes 
 them in the assurance that he or his children will reap the 
 benefit of them ; and every liew improvement furnishes a 
 new stimulus to those efforts which are necessary to pay off 
 the debt. But no person takes genuine pleasure in improv- 
 ing another man's property. It is the interest of the tenant 
 to get as much out of the soil as he can, and give as little as 
 he can back to it. When he has exhausted one farm he 
 can take another. Thus, the land, as far as it is cultivated 
 in this way, is undergoing a gradual decay ; but not more 
 surely than the generous principle in the heart of him who 
 thus occupies it, who is perpetually, though perhaps uncon- 
 sciously, under the influence of his interest, engaged in .de- 
 teriorating his neighbor's property. The owner is under 
 precisely the opposite influence. He strives to render back 
 to the land as much as possible, in return for what he takes 
 from it ; for he feels that he is making it the depository of 
 all that his youth and manhood can lay up for the decline of 
 life, for his family and his children. 
 
 Whatever, in this way, is true of the young farmer who 
 lias purchased his farm on credit, is still more applicable to 
 him, who, happily, begins life the proprietor of the soil 
 which he cultivates. It is particularly in reference to him 
 that the subject presents itself in other relations than those 
 of pecuniary calculation, and assumes an aspect, not merely 
 of an economical, but also of a political question. In gen- 
 eral, the inquiry how the land is cultivated derives grreat 
 consequence from its connection with the political condition 
 of the cultivators, A very considerable portion of the po- 
 litical power of every country must be vested in the land- 
 holders ; for they hold a large part of the property of the 
 country. Tliey do so even in England, where there is such 
 a vast amount of commercial and manufacturing wealth. 
 Although the land is, to a considerable degree, in England 
 monopolized by rich proprietors, yet attempts have been 
 
96 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 made, and with success, to give political privileges and 
 consequence to the tenantry. Still, however, the greatest 
 land-holder in most counties is generally able to carry the 
 elections as he pleases. 
 
 There is no way in which a calm, orderly and intelligent 
 exercise and control of political power can be assured to 
 the people but by a distribution among them, as equally as 
 possible, of the property of the country ; and I know of no 
 manner in which such a distribution can be permanently 
 and peacefully effected but by keeping the land in small 
 farms, suitable to be cultivated by their owners. Under 
 such a system, and under no other, the people will exercise 
 their rights with independence. The assumption of a right 
 to dictate will be frowned upon, if attempted ; and even the 
 small portion of the population who may be tenants will 
 possess the spirit and freedom of the proprietors. 
 
 But I own that it is not even on political grounds that I 
 think our system of independent rural freeholders is most 
 strongly entitled to preference. Its moral aspects, its con- 
 nection with the character and the feelings of the yeomanry, 
 give it, after all, its greatest value. The man who stands 
 upon his own soil, who feels that by the law of the land in 
 which he lives, by the law of civilized nations, he is the 
 rightful and exclusive owner of the land which he tills, is, 
 by the constitution of our nature, under a wholesome influ- 
 ence, not easily imbibed from any other source. He feels, 
 other things being equal, more strongly than another, the 
 character of man as the lord of the inanimate world. Of 
 this great and wonderful sphere, which, fashioned by the 
 hand of God, and upheld by his power, is rolling through 
 the heavens, a portion is his — his, from the centre to the 
 sky. It is the space on which the generations before him 
 moved in their round of duties ; and he feels himself con- 
 nected, by a visible link, with those who preceded him, as he 
 is also with those who will follow him, and to whom he is 
 to transmit a home. Perhaps his farm has come down 
 from his fathers. They have gone to their last home ; but 
 he can trace their footsteps in the daily scene of his labors. 
 The roof which shelters hira was reared by those to whom he 
 owes his being. Some interesting domestic tradition is 
 connected with every enclosure. The favorite fruit tree 
 was planted by his father's hand. He sported in his boy- 
 hood by the side of the brook which still winds through his 
 meadow. Through that field lies the path to the village 
 
FOR PUOMOTING AGRICULTURE. 97 
 
 school of his earliest days. He still hears from his windovr 
 the voice of the Sabbath bell, which called his fathers, and 
 his forefathers, to the house of God ; and, near at liand, is 
 the spot where he laid his parents down to rest, and where, 
 he trusts, when his hour is come, he shall be dutilMlly laid 
 by his children. These are the feelings of the owner of the 
 soil. Words cannot paint them; gold cannot buy them; 
 they flow out of the deepest fountains of the heart; they are 
 the life-spring of a fresh, healthy, generous, national char- 
 acter. The history and experience of the world illustrate 
 their power. Who ever heard of an enlightened race of 
 serfs, slaves or vassals ? How can we wonder at the forms 
 of government which prevail in Europe, with such a system 
 of monopoly in the land as there exists ? Nothing but this 
 explains our own history, clears up the mystery of the rev- 
 olution, and makes us fully comprehend the secret of our 
 own strength. Austria or France must fall, when Vienna 
 or Paris is seized by a powerful army. But what was the 
 loss of Boston or New York in the revolutionary war to the 
 people of New England ? The moment the enemy set his 
 foot in the country he was like a hunter going to the thicket 
 to rob th^ tigress of her young. The officers and soldiers 
 of the revolution were farmers and the sous of farmers, who 
 owned the soil for which they fought ; and many of them, 
 like the veteran Putnam, literally left their ploughs in the 
 furrow to hasten to the field of battle. 
 
 After depicting the felicity, social and political, of the 
 agricultural population of New England, the orator closed 
 with the now familiar lines of the poet : 
 
 What constitutes a state ? 
 
 The publication of the society's Journal as a serial ceased 
 in 1827. The occasion of it was that other publications 
 had appeared in newspaper form, containing the latest in- 
 formation, with competent discussion, upon agricultural 
 matters. The principal of these, at that time, was the New- 
 England Farmer, which was started in the year 1822. In 
 1823 the trustees of the society bestowed upon it, by a for- 
 mal vote, a cordial recommendation to the patronage of 
 the public. It was issued weekly and reached its farmer 
 subscribers more promptly than could the society, with its 
 
"98 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 semi-annual issue. It was welcomed, therefore, as a valuable 
 auxiliary in the society's work, and intimate relations with 
 it were established, so that it became virtually, the organ 
 of the society. Its founder and editor, Thomas Green 
 Fessenden, was a man well qualified, by education and in- 
 terest in the cause of agriculture, to conduct it. The degree 
 of that intimacy and the appreciation, by the trustees, of 
 Mr. Fessenden's services and abilities, are indicated by. a 
 TOte of the board passed soon after his decease in 1837, 
 placing ilOO at the disposal of a committee to erect, at his 
 grave, a monument. A marble shaft at Mount Auburn 
 bears his name and perpetuates his memory. 
 
 Two volumes of the Journal were published beyond the 
 date of the regular succession, one in 1830 and one in 1832, 
 making ten volumes in all, as put into permanent binding. 
 In the final issue the editor reverted to the early experien- 
 ces of the trustees in publication, and the difficulty, then 
 found, in obtaining original contributions. He e-xpressed 
 opinion that the Journal had had an educative influence in 
 arousing the curiosity and exciting the intellectual powers 
 of the agricultural population, and recognized, in the exist- 
 ing circumstances, cause for congratulation. "At the present 
 moment," he said, " three or four agricultural newspapers 
 are fully supplied with original matter, and, what is most 
 encouraging, far the greater mass of articles are from the 
 pens of real cultivators." These ten volumes have an 
 average of about 400 pages. The collection as a whole is a 
 testimonial of the diligence and zeal of a service to the 
 public, in the doing of which no applause was expected and 
 but little was bestowed, and wherein the pecuniary outgo 
 was much and the incoma small ; and it is also a memorial 
 or record of permanent value, as relating to the agricultural 
 progress of the period which it covers. In thus finally re- 
 ferring to it, two matters may be noticed which did not 
 seem to be pertinent at any point in the text as hitherto 
 written, and which have both an historical and an intrinsic, 
 that is to say, readable, interest. 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. \f\f 
 
 The first throws light upon the relative progress in 
 invention, in the line of agricultural utility, in this country 
 and in England, and is contained in a communication from 
 €ol. Timothy Pickering, published in the Journal in 1820. 
 The subject was the comparative value of the labor of oxen 
 €ind of horses, in farming operations. The writer expressed 
 preference for the former, and, while recognizing the fact 
 that horses were generally preferred in England, quoted a 
 remark contained in a then recent discussion of the subject 
 by Sir John Sinclair, president of the British Board of 
 Agriculture. The remark was: ''The principal objection 
 to the use of oxen is the difficulty of shoeing them.^' Upon 
 this the writer of the communication says : ''The facile mode 
 of shoeing oxen in New England would remove that objec- 
 tion, and I take the liberty of suggesting the propriety of 
 the trustees of our State society of agriculture, communi- 
 cating to Sir John a drawing and description of our simple 
 frame and apparatus for shoeing oxen, for the information 
 of British agriculturists, to whom we are so much indebted 
 for instruction and examples in the most approved prac- 
 tices in husbandry." 
 
 The final volume of 1832 contained an article by John 
 Lowell, who had been a trustee of the society from 1806, 
 and its president from 1823 to 1828, the subject being the 
 cultivation of live hedges. In it the statement is inciden- 
 tally made that the Virginia thorn, which had been used by 
 Mr. Quincy for setting his long hedge in 1808, had proved 
 unsatisfactory in general, because of the ravages of a worm 
 or borer at its root. Mr. Lowell says : '' We are indebted 
 wholly and entirely to the experiments of Ezekiel Hersey 
 Derby, Esq,, for the possession of a plant, the buckthorn 
 (rhamnus atharticus^ which, from ten years trial, seems to 
 afford every desirable quality for a healthy, beautiful and 
 efi'ectual hedge. I can only say, and I feel it a duty to say, 
 that I have tried this plant for six years. It is hardy, rapid 
 in its growth, of impenetrable thickness, and, so far as the 
 extent of the experiment enables me to judge, not subject 
 
100 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 to any disease or visitation of any insect whatever." It 
 may be added as more closely identifying with the society 
 the introduction of the buckthorn hedge that Mr. Derby ^ 
 whose estate was in Salem, was a member of the society 
 from an early date, and one of its trustees from 1816^ 
 through a period of years. 
 
 The relinquishment, in 1830, by the society of all control 
 and responsibility in the Botanical Garden at Cambridge ; 
 the cessation of the Journal in 1832, and of the cattle 
 shows in 1835, had effect in directing the society's expen- 
 ditures into different channels ; not to any important ex- 
 tent into new channels, but producing a more copious flow 
 in those already existing. 
 
 An official printed statement relating to the year 1835 y 
 
 "The invested funds and cash of the society amounted at 
 this time to f 12,914. There had been no increase of them 
 for many years, the income of the society, as well as a part 
 of the donations to it, having been applied to premiums of 
 various kinds, and very largely to the Botanic Garden. It 
 was thought by many, that it was now time to attempt a new 
 field of usefulness, by a systematic introduction of improved 
 breeds of cattle. To do this, it required large outlays in 
 the purchase and importation, as well as a continuous ex- 
 pense in the proper care of the stock after its arrival ; con- 
 sequently, for several years successively, the amount paid 
 out in premiums was sensibly reduced, and a portion of the 
 society's income was reserved and invested, with the view 
 to more efficient action hereafter." 
 
 The society, at an early date already named, had entered 
 upon the practice thus suggested, and by its own importa- 
 tions, and otherwise, had given it encouragement. Its ac- 
 tion in this particular, whether direct or indirect, was 
 equally in furtherance of its mission, the promoting of ag- 
 riculture. Its indirect influence was exerted chiefly in two 
 ways, the publication of editorial or communicated articles 
 in advocacy of improved breeding, and the award of premi- 
 ums to individuals, who, at their own cost and trouble, had 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 101 
 
 made desirable importations. During the period of the cat- 
 tle shows, such animals, as well as others imported by the 
 society or coming to it by gift, made a part of the attraction 
 of the Brighton annual festival. 
 
 An importation by the society, in 1816, of three Alderney 
 cattle has been mentioned. The next of record is an im- 
 portation of a bull and two cows from Flanders, in 1817, 
 by Israel Thorndike of Boston. He was a member of the 
 society from the year 1792, and its vice president from 1823 
 to 1829. He made a gift to the society, in 1818, of the bull 
 and one of the cows. The animals were of much celebrity, 
 and their progeny, as they appeared from time to time at 
 the cattle shows, won great admiration. A bull of the 
 Teeswater breed, of reputation in England at the time, was 
 imported by a member of the society in 1818. It was also 
 known as the " short-horn " breed. In the same year 
 Charles Thorndike, a son of the above mentioned Mr. 
 Thorndike, imported a bull and two cows from Portugal. 
 In 1819 Gorham Parsons, a trustee, and Cornelius Coolidge, 
 a member of the society, each made importations of cattle 
 of the Holderness breed. In 1820 was made the first of a 
 succession of gifts to the society from two English gentle- 
 men, who were brothers. Sir Isaac Coffin and Gen. John 
 Coffin. The former held rank as an admiral in the British 
 navy. At the time of making these gifts, Gen. Coffin was 
 residing in New Brunswick. Their interest in the society 
 was derived from the fact that they were both of Massachu- 
 setts, having been born in Boston. Both were in the royal 
 service at the outbreak of the war of the Revolution, and in 
 that contest abided by the fortunes of the British flag. 
 Neither the experiences nor the results of the war had effect 
 to eradicate their regard for their ancestral home, a feeling 
 to which, as will appear in the record, they bore testimony 
 in a very practical way. 
 
 In 1820 General Coffin presented the society with a stal- 
 lion of the breed called in England, the " light cart " or 
 ^* Suffolk Punch" breed. It was a superior animal in ap- 
 
102 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 pearance as well as in strength, and was named Columbus, 
 The trustees had a portrait of the animal painted, and it 
 was engraved for publication in the Journal. In 1823^ 
 Admiral Coffin presented the society with a short-horn bull 
 of English breeding, and in the following year, a bull and 
 heifer of the Hereford breed and also a short horn-heifer, 
 with due certificates of pedigree. The short-horn bull wa& 
 named "• Admiral," and was successively placed in difier- 
 ent counties of the State, usually in charge of some ofi&cer 
 or member of one of the county agricultural societies. 
 This was conformable to the general practice of the society^ 
 both prior and subsequently. In 1825 Admiral Coffin gave 
 the society a stallion and mare of the breed known as the 
 Yorkshire Cleveland Bays, much favored in England as 
 road horses. In 1827 General Coffin bestowed the gift of 
 four rams and three ewes of the Devonshire Nott breed. 
 One pair of these was sent to the Worcester county society, 
 and one pair to the Hampshire county society. 
 
 These various donations became the occasion of a very 
 interesting episode in the proceedings at the Brighton cattle 
 show in 1827, in the course of an address made by the 
 president of the society at that time, Hon. John Lowell, 
 preliminary to announcing the premiums. General Coffin 
 was present, as a guest of the day. President Lowell, hav- 
 ing in his remarks led up to an enumeration of the various 
 gifts which had thus been received by^the society, said, with 
 special reference to the latest gift of the sheep : 
 
 General Coffin, not content with purchasing them, has, at 
 an age above three score years and ten, followed them 
 through their long passage to New Brunswick, and thence, 
 without delay, from Eastport to Boston, in order that they 
 might grace the show of the society on this anniversary. 
 He is now present at our festival. There is no feeling 
 stronger than that of an attachment to the country in 
 which we are born. Time and distance have no efiect, un- 
 less it be in making the feeling more intense. I know of 
 no case more touching, none in which the strength of that 
 natural feeling has been more strongly exemplified than in 
 that of these two brothers, who, separated from their coun- 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 103 
 
 try in youth, engaged in the service of a nation now foreign 
 to us, look back with a kind, affectionate and devoted at- 
 tachment to the land of their birth. This family, as is 
 probably well known to you all, were among the earliest 
 settlers of Nantucket, an island which has done more than 
 any other spot to raise the reputation of our nation for 
 hardy enterprise and unblemished morals. Shall I receive 
 a single dissentient vote, when I propose the thanks of this 
 assembled body of full-blooded Yankees to General Coffin 
 and his brother. Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin? * 
 
 The vote was carried unanimously by a show of hands. 
 At an earlier date the society had signified its appreciation 
 of these generous gifts, in bestowing its gold medal upon 
 each of these benefactors, and by electing them as honorary 
 members. 
 
 In 1821 the trustees ordered an importation of two pairs 
 of the breed of Leicester sheep. In the same year an im- 
 ported bull was presented to the society by John Hubbard 
 of Boston. In 1822 an Arabian ram, of the long-wooled 
 breed, was presented by D. L. Pickman of Salem. In 182S 
 three sheep from the province of Astrachan, in Russia, a 
 breed remarkable for their excellence as mutton, were re- 
 
 *The brothers, John and Isaac Coffin, were sons of Nathaniel Coffin, who, 
 towards the middle of the last century, was a merchant in Boston, and for 
 a time, was the king's cashier of customs. His residence was at the wester- 
 ly corner of Essex street and Rainsford's lane. The lane, much widened, 
 is how known as Harrison avenue. The houselot and garden extended 
 southerly to the shore, the line of which is denoted by the present Beach 
 street, and the waters of South Cove washed against the garden wall of the 
 estate. The mansion house, which stood near Essex street, was the birth 
 place of John and Isaac ; and it may be surmised that their fondness, or,, 
 certainly, fearlessness of the sea, traceable in part to a Nantucket ancestry, 
 
 fained something from this proximity of the tide water to the garden wall, 
 t may be suspected that cautious youthful voyages were made in some 
 frail canoe along the shore now marked, in a general way, by Harrison 
 avenue, with occasional bolder ventures across the cove to the shore of 
 Dorchester Heiglits, now First street. South Boston. 
 
 John Coffin was born in 1751, and died in New Brunswick, in 1838. In 
 early manhood he entered the British army and was with the body of troops 
 that fought at Bunker Hill. As a captain and major he made a military 
 reputation in campaigns in the southern colonies during the war. He con- 
 tinued in the service and became a colonel in 1797 ; major general, in 1803; 
 lieutenant general, in 1809; and general, in 1819. After retiring from the 
 army he was a member of the legislative assembly of New Brunswick. 
 
 Isaac Coffin was born in 1759, and died in Cheltenham, Eng., in 1839. 
 He entered the British navy as a midshipman, in 1773, and had a long and 
 varied experience in the service, including several naval encounters in the 
 war of the Revolution. He became a lieutenant in 1778; commander, in 
 1789; rear admiral, in 1804; vice admiral, in 1808; admiral, in 1814. In 1804 
 he was made a baronet and was a member of parliament in 1818 and 182C. 
 
104 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 ceived by gift from Francis Peabody of Salem. An im- 
 portation of a bull and three cows of the Ayrshire breed 
 was made by the trustees in 1835, at a cost of |1,170. Two 
 instances of bringing swine from foreign lands appear in 
 the record of these early years, one in 1818, and one in 
 1823. It may be noted as evidence of the importance in 
 which these undertakings were held by the trustees, that, 
 in several instances during the period thus referred to, 
 medals were voted by the trustees to shipmasters who had 
 bestowed special care upon the animals during the voyage. 
 
 An important share of the society's bounty continued to 
 be offered, each year, after the suspension of its cattle shows, 
 in premiums for the best cultivated farm, for the largest 
 crop per acre of certain vegetables, for the cultivation of 
 forest and other trees, for useful inventions, etc. It also 
 contributed each year to the total of premiums offered by 
 certain of the county agricultural societies, presumably 
 those whose pecuniary resources were least, or those where 
 certain lines of agriculture, deemed specially desirable, 
 were pursued, either because of the enterprise of the farm- 
 ing population or favorable situation. Such premiums were 
 usually, if not invariably, in whatever county offered, open 
 to competitors from all other counties. The total of premi- 
 ums paid in the year 1888 was f 900, and in eacli year up to 
 1842, several hundred dollars. The state of things as 
 respects the use of the plough, at this period, is indicated in 
 the fact that, in 1837, a premium of $30 was offered to any 
 mechanic " to construct and introduce, for the use of farm- 
 ers, a sub-soil plough." In 1840, as prevfously intimated, 
 it had become well understood that the ideal of a plough 
 for ordinary use had not been fully attained in the manu- 
 facture of that instrument on the Jeffersonian lines, with 
 the early New York improvements. Accordingly, the 
 society offered these premiums : " For the best plough that 
 will turn the sod over and lay it flat, regard being had for 
 excellence of work, ease of draught, cheapness, etc., ^SilOO ; 
 
FOK PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 105 
 
 for the best plough tliat shall lay the sod on edge or 
 obliquely, regard being had to like qualities, '*|75." A 
 trial, or competition in the field, was had at Worcester on 
 Oct. 13, 1840, and the award of the larger premium was to 
 Prouty <fe Mears, and the smaller to Charles Howard. 
 
 In 1836 the trustees appeared before a committee of the 
 Legislature and testified, personally, in approbation of 
 pending legislation for the appointment of an agent to 
 make an agricultural survey of the State. The project was 
 carried through, and the State agent appointed was Rev. 
 Henry Colman, of reputation as an expert in agriculture. 
 In 1839 Mr. Colman was made the delegate of the society 
 to attend a convention of silk producers, held in Washing- 
 ton, D. C, his expenses being paid by the society. In 
 1842, the State survey being completed, Mr. Colman visited 
 Europe to make a like general survey, with intention to 
 publish a volume on his return, embodying his observations 
 and conclusions. The society subscribed for 100 copies in 
 advance, paying, at once, in the proportion agreed upon by 
 individuals who had entered into a like subscription. In 
 1839 the total of premiums paid was $1,190, of which |400 
 was given to county societies, and 1450 for the best culti- 
 vated farms. Of the remainder a part was a premium of 
 $100, awarded to the Northampton Beet Sugar Co., for the 
 production of the greatest quantity and best quality of 
 sugar from the sugar beet. 
 
 In 1842 the society reached its semi-centennial date. 
 The record of the period upon which it could look back has 
 here been indicated with sufficient fullness to make super- 
 fluous any commentary or encomium, other than what may 
 be contained in the remark that the labor which had 
 been performed by its officers had been arduous, and 
 the harvest sought had been abundant. Agriculture 
 had been greatly promoted, in Massachusetts, by its 
 activities. Many names, eminent in the State and the 
 nation, had, from time to time, been added to its roll of mem- 
 bership. Dr. Aaron Dexter, who was the president at the 
 
106 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 close of the quarter century, in 1817, was succeeded in 
 office in 1823 by John Lowell, son of John Lowell, the 
 charter member and president from 1796 to 1802. In 1828 
 Thomas L. Winthrop became the president. He yet held 
 the office at the date of his decease, in 1840. This long- 
 continued service, and his devotedness in it, were recog- 
 nized in suitable obituary resolutions, which are contained 
 in both the written and printed records of the society. His 
 successor, chosen in 1811, was John Welles, a resident in 
 Boston, for many years, having a large farm in the adjoin- 
 ing town of Dorchester, and who subsequently carried on 
 still more extensive agricultural enterprises in that part of 
 Natick, which now commemorates his name, the town of 
 Wellesley. 
 
 The society's second half-century begins very modestly 
 in the business record with a gift, in 1842, of |100 to the 
 agricultural society organized for the three counties of 
 Hampshire, Hampden and Franklin, and a like sum to the 
 Plymouth county society. A premium was offered for the 
 best model of a farmer's daybook, by which was meant a 
 blankbook, ruled and arranged with printed headlines, for 
 keeping a record suitable for comparison respecting the 
 planting, growth and harvesting of crops and matters per- 
 taining to stock, the dairy, labor, etc. The intent, appar- 
 ently, was to enable the farmer to judge with accuracy as to 
 whether he was gaining or losing, improving or retrograd- 
 ing, in each particular department, by comparing, under 
 each head, one year with another, or comparing with his 
 neighbor who kept a book classified in like manner. One 
 competitor appeared, but his model was thought to be too 
 complicated, as it required the keeping of four books, and 
 no award was made at this time. In 1843 premiums of 
 $2,800 of a general character were offered, certain tracts 
 were printed, and 8100 paid for premiums awarded by the 
 society of the three counties. 
 
 At the trustees' meeting of Dec. 14, 1844, the subject of 
 
FOR PIIOMOTIXG AGRICULTURE. 107 
 
 veterinary education was considered. Doubtless it had 
 been brought forward by John Collins Warren, M. D., who 
 had within a few years become a member of the board. 
 At any rate, lie was made one of a committee to inquire 
 into the matter, and, altliough the report subsequently 
 made bears no signature, the familiar knowledge manifested 
 in it as to the status of European schools of anatomy and 
 surgery, is good evidence that it was prepared by him. 
 As it seems to mark the beginning of that branch of prac- 
 tical science, not only in this state, but in this country, and 
 is of instructive interest, it may properly be given in full. 
 The report was submitted, Jan. 11, 1845, and is as follows r 
 
 The committee appointed to consider the best mode of 
 encouraging veterinary education in this state beg leave to 
 report, that, on inquiry, they find that the diseases and ac- 
 cidents to which domestic animals are liable are but little 
 understood among us, and the treatment is consequently 
 empirical and often pernicious. The importance of many 
 animals to the pursuits of agriculture render them worthy 
 of the most careful attention, in an active and industrial 
 community. 
 
 We find that, in Europe, schools for the formation of 
 physicians and surgeons for treatment of the diseases 
 of animals have been everywhere established. In Great 
 Britain, France and other countries, the veterinary physi- 
 cian and surgeon stands as high in public estimation as the 
 regular practitioners of the healing art. In some of the 
 German schools it is made a part of the duty of every stu- 
 dent in medicine to attend a series of lectures upon this 
 subject. 
 
 No such establishments exist in this country, and the 
 want of information on the subject is truly deplorable. 
 Fine animals are continually sacrificed to the ignorance and 
 prejudice of their possessors. The trustees of this society 
 have originated and diffused many important and difficult 
 improvements in the agriculture of this part of the country, 
 and it seems well worthy of their public spirit and influence 
 to make an effort to introduce a better practice in the treat- 
 ment of the injuries of animals. 
 
 The most useful mode of accomplishing this object would 
 be by the foundation of a veterinary school, but as the funds 
 of the society would not enable them to execute so large a 
 
108 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 plan, it might, perhaps, be more judicious to give en- 
 couragement to some individual to go abroad, for the pur- 
 pose of instructing himself sufficiently to give lectures, and 
 to explain the best known modes of treatment. The com- 
 mittee recommend that |600 be appropriated in this way, a 
 part of which sum might be paid in advance, and a part 
 after the proposed lectures had been given in a manner sat- 
 isfactory to the trustees. 
 
 What was thus recommended was carried into effect with 
 this variation only, that an arrangement was made with 
 Dr. Edward Brooks, of Boston, who was already a resident 
 and student of medicine and surgery in Paris, that he 
 should devote sufficient time to veterinary studies to qualify 
 himself to give, after his return, a course of lectures as 
 proposed. In the following year. Dr. Warren was author- 
 ized to procure in Paris, for the society, an anatomical 
 model of a horse. The report upon this bears Dr. Warren's 
 signature, and the essential part of it is as follows : 
 
 Your committee find that there has lately been completed 
 in Paris the figure of a horse of full size, so constructed 
 that all its pieces may be taken apart. These pieces rep- 
 resent the muscles, blood vessels, heart, lungs and other 
 organs in their natural size and appearance. They are 
 composed of materials of an imperishable nature, and when 
 put together form a beautiful object. The committee, be- 
 lieving that there is no similar work in this country, and 
 that this will be of great use in displaying to practical men 
 the anatomy of different organs which may be the seat of 
 disease, have thought that its acquisition would be a benefit 
 to the agricultural interests of the country, and have, there- 
 fore, procured this work and ordered it to be shipped. The 
 committee, seeing the great importance of the bones of the 
 ox and the horse, have also directed the preparation of full 
 sized skeletons of these animals. The committee propose, 
 when these objects have all arrived, that they shall be 
 placed together in some convenient situation, and be made 
 accessible to the agriculturist, without expense. 
 
 During the following winter Dr. Warren delivered a lec- 
 ture upon the anatomy of. the horse, at the State House, be- 
 fore the Legislative Agricultural Society, which was com- 
 posed of members of the Legislature then in session. The 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 109 
 
 lecture was a public one, and tlie doctor illustrated his re- 
 marks by means of the dissected image of a horse, which 
 had then arrived from Paris. This anatomical figure, and 
 the two skeletons, were made available, as the property of 
 the society, in giving instruction during many years, having 
 been kept for a period at the State House, in the rooms of 
 the Board of Agriculture, and afterwards at the State Ag- 
 ricultural College at Amherst. They were finally disposed 
 of by the trustees, on Jan. 10, 1890, as a gift to Harvard 
 University, for use in its school of veterinary science. 
 
 In 1844 the society's land in Brighton was graded for 
 street purposes, and sold in house lots by auction, yielding^ 
 about $6,000 to the treasury. At the cattle show of the 
 Worcester society, the Massachusetts society paid out this^ 
 year $1,032.40 in premiums. In 1845 a full set of the so- 
 ciety's publications was sent to the Royal Agricultural So-^ 
 ciety of England, this action having been prompted by Ed- 
 ward Everett, then in that country ; and the official corre- 
 spondence, in the matter, passed through his hands. This 
 year the trustees ceased to offer premiums for nearly all 
 the purposes hitherto recognized, the feeling being, as offic- 
 ially stated, that the measures thus taken had, for the time,, 
 produced the desired effect, " in stimulating farmers to a 
 habit of investigation and accurate noting of time, manner 
 and circumstance in which experiments had been made, 
 giving thereby exact knowledge whether particular experi- 
 ments had been successful or not'' ; and it was decided to 
 apply the income especially to the introduction of improved 
 breeds of dairy stock. 
 
 An importation was authorized of a bull and four heifers- 
 of Ayrshire stock, and a like number of Devon stock, with 
 intention of maintaining the herds separately, under the 
 control of the society, that animals of pure blood might,, 
 with certainty, be procurable in this State. This was the 
 most important undertaking of the kind, that, up to the date, 
 had been made by the society, and there appears to have- 
 been much painstaking by all concerned, in carrying it 
 
110 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 through. The sum of 12,000 was voted for the purpose. 
 The trustees employed as the agent of the society, Alexan- 
 der Bickett of Andover, a Scotchman by birth, and an ex- 
 pert in cattle and cattle breeding. He visited the regions 
 in Great Britain where Ayrshire and North Devon stock 
 abound, and made judicious selections, as is evinced by a 
 letter addressed to him by Henry Codman, one of the com- 
 mittee of importation and treasurer of the society, in ac- 
 knowledgment of the fidelity of his service. The two 
 herds, upon arrival, were sent to the farm, in Lexington, 
 owned by Elias Phinney, the recording secretary of the so- 
 ciety. There they were maintained during four years (or 
 until the decease of Mr. Phinney) as the property of the 
 society, and were managed according to the strictness of 
 breeders' rules, the surplus being sold each year to persons 
 living within the state. In 1849 or 1850 those which had 
 not been disposed of were divided in a manner designed to 
 preserve the purity of each breed. The principal part of 
 the Ayrshires were bought by Mr. George W. Lyman, then 
 a trustee and later the president of the society, and in his 
 possession they became a stock of great celebrity. Others 
 of the collection were distributed by gift among the county 
 societies of the State ; that is, one pair of Ayrshires, or one 
 pair of Devons, to a society, thus enabling each " so to dis- 
 pose of the animals as to keep the breed unmixed, and give 
 character to the stock of the respective counties." 
 
 The file of vouchers, and the letters written by the soci- 
 ety's agent while abroad, permit the progress of the enter- 
 prise, from its inception to the arrival at the port of Boston, 
 to be traced in detail. The Ayrshire bull purchased was 
 known in the Scotch herd book as "" Prince Albert.'^ It 
 had been bred by Andrew McGregor of Doonholm, but at 
 the date of purchase was owned by another cattle breeder. 
 The four Ayrshire cows were bought of Mr. McGregor, who 
 appended to his bill of sale, at the request of the agent, his 
 opinion of the bull which had already been purchased by 
 the agent. It was that Prince Albert was " one of the best 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. Ill 
 
 breeding bulls in Ayrshire." A like success seems to have 
 attended the agent in obtaining the Devon bull. This he 
 bought of John Blomfield, a cattle breeder living in the 
 vicinity of the estate of the earl of Leicester, it having 
 been originally of the earl's own far-famed stock. The 
 four cows were bought directly from the earl's own herd. 
 The agent, in liis letter, after giving points of pedigree, re- 
 marks, incidentally : " Lord Leicester has directed the ar- 
 tist who is to carve out the likeness of a Devon bull, for his 
 father's monument, to look at Mr. Blom field's bull (the sire 
 of the one I bought), before he begins his work." Such a 
 testimony, considering the certainty, under breeding regu- 
 lations, of identity in traits and features in the purchased 
 animal and its sire, would seem to be conclusive, and must 
 have silenced even the hypercritical, as respects the merits 
 of the society's Devon bull. 
 
 It may be remarked that this reference to the monu- 
 ment of the deceased earl is not the only evidence this 
 file of papers contains, that, in the estimation of Britain's 
 nobility, practical agriculture diminishes, in no wise, the 
 lustre of the family escutcheon. One of the agent's 
 vouchers reads thus : '' Mr. Bickett, Dr. to the Earl of 
 Leicester : 2 North Devon heifers, 28£ ; 2 North Devon 
 cows, 82£." The signature following, in receipt of pay- 
 ment, is not that of the earl, but of the manager of his 
 farm ; but manifestly there was no disposition to disguise 
 the prosaic mercantile facts, nor apprehension of loss of 
 dignity to the house of Leicester, through its known com- 
 plicity in the cattle traffic. 
 
 The events occurring between 1845 and 1850 are few in 
 the record. In 1846 John Chipman Gray became the 
 president, in place of John Welles, resigned, and Daniel 
 Webster was chosen as the first vice president. In 1850 
 Dr. John C. Warren was chosen second vice president, 
 and the situation remained unchanged until the decease 
 of the former, in 1852. This may be regarded a notable 
 episode in the society's history, in that, for the time being, 
 it had for its two vice presidents, men who, confessedly 
 
 M/ ^ * 
 
112 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 stood preeminent in the professions to which they respec- 
 tively belonged. In 1847 a communication was received 
 from the Royal Agricultural Society of France,* asking for 
 any information in the possession of the Massachusetts 
 Society as to the phenomena of, and the remedy for, the 
 prevalent potato disease. An expert investigation of the 
 disease had recently been made under the direction of the 
 trustees, and the result of it was sent to Paris. In 1849 
 Dr. Edward Brooks returned from Paris and delivered the 
 expected course of public lectures, in February, at the 
 State House. In 1850 a pair of North Devon cattle was 
 bought and presented to the State's reformatory institu- 
 tion, at Westboro. In 1851 occurred the decease of Dr. 
 Brooks, and the trustees made an arrangement with Dr. 
 D. D. Slade to give a course of public lectures on veteri- 
 nary science, which he did in a manner to meet the offi- 
 cial approval of Dr. Warren, who was of the committee of 
 arrangements. In this case, as in that of the preceding 
 course, $600 was paid to the lecturer from the treasury of 
 the society. 
 
 In 1851 an appropriation of |2,^0 having been made, 
 the treasurer of the society, - Honry " Co anmiiT ^ visited 
 Europe and procured a bull and four cows of the Jersey^ 
 or Alderney, breed of cattle. These, on arrival, were 
 placed in charge of Mr. Thomas Motley, one of the trus- 
 tees of the society, at his farm in West Roxbury. In 
 1852 the society made one more effort to get from the 
 State of Maine the half-township of land, which, through 
 technicalities, had failed to come into its possession upon 
 the separation of the district of Maine from the State of 
 Massachusetts, the Legislature of which had made the 
 grant. In October of this year the decease of Daniel 
 Webster took place, and at the meeting of trustees next 
 ensuing, the following resolution was adopted : 
 
 Whereas, it has pleased Divine Providence to remove 
 by death our late distinguished vice president, the Hon. 
 Daniel Webster. 
 
 Resolved, That while the trustees of this society, in 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 113 
 
 eommon with their fellow citizens, entertain a due sense 
 of the many eminent services rendered to the public by 
 Mr. Webster in his political and professional capacity, 
 they feel bound more particularly to speak of the warm 
 attachment which he manifested, throughout his life, by 
 word and by example, to the pursuit of agriculture ; to 
 bear witness to his comprehensive views of its general 
 principles, and his thorough acquaintance with its practi- 
 cal details, and to express their sense of his loss as one of 
 the ablest, most constant and most distinguished friends 
 of that great interest in our own or in any country. 
 
 The year 1853 is the date of the beginning of opera- 
 tions by the State Board of Agriculture, which was 
 created by an act passed in the preceding year. Thence- 
 forth, the formal annual report, which, since 1845, had 
 been required by law to be sent to the secretary of the 
 Commonwealth, was sent to the Board of Agriculture. 
 Intimate relations were established between the society 
 and the board, arising in part from the circumstance that 
 one member of the board is regularly, in conformity to 
 the act of 1852, chosen by the society, to serve for a term 
 of three years. 
 
 The offer, in 1855, of certain premiums may be said to 
 mark, with approximate accuracy, the beginning of a new 
 era in one department of practical agriculture, that of 
 hay-harvesting. The offer was intended to encourage the 
 general use of the mowing machine, and the official report 
 on the matter shows that it had the desired effect. One 
 premium, of $600, was open to competition that year, and 
 the other, of 11,000, was seasonably announced, that the 
 competition might be had and the award made in the fol- 
 lowing year. The premium for 1855 was *' to the posses- 
 sor of the mowing machine which shall cut, during the 
 present season, with the greatest economy and to the best 
 advantage not less than fifty acres of grass, within the 
 State." The appeal was specifically to the operators of 
 machines, the intent of the trustees being " to bring out 
 skill in the use of a machine comparatively new, without 
 
114 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 reference to the particular merits of the several kinds 
 then offered to the public." To these words the trustees 
 add that " they felt strong hopes, also, that so large a pre- 
 mium would incite many to try the experiment of mowing 
 with a machine, who would otherwise wait to see whether 
 it was successful or not; in this they were not disap- 
 pointed, the number of competitors having been large." 
 The phrases thus used, " a machine comparatively 
 new," and, "the number of competitors having been large/' 
 permit the date of the new order of things in haymaking, 
 in this State, to be fixed with tolerable precision ; for, 
 when the record is referred to, it appears that the number 
 competing was forty. If this, after the special incentive, 
 suggested in the words just quoted, had had time to take 
 effect, could be deemed a large number, the possessors of 
 mowing machines in the State prior to 1855, by fair infer- 
 ence, were but few. The condition of things is, in a cer- 
 tain way, indicated in the statistics given in the report 
 of the committee of award. A condition named was that 
 each competitor should mow a measured half-acre in the 
 presence of the society's representative, upon a day ap- 
 pointed by him. It was deemed to be the fairest method 
 that one member of the committee should seethe work- 
 ing of all the machines, rather than that the supervision 
 should be shared ; and that the whole committee should 
 make the award upon his testimony, aided by information 
 derived from returns, the blanks for which were provided, 
 and were to be filled by the several competitors. The re- 
 turn of these filled blanks was made imperative, else the 
 party was not to be considered in making up the award. 
 In consequence, only sixteen competitors had to be taken 
 into account in making the award. The others, with one 
 exception, made no returns, not being well satisfied, prob- 
 ably, with their own performance. The exception was 
 George W. Lyman, the recording secretary of the society, 
 who did not desire the award, if entitled to it, but wished 
 the committee to have the benefit of any knowledge de- 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 115 
 
 livable from the working of his machine. Amon^ the 
 statistics of the operation of the seventeen machines are 
 these : Fingers broken or lost (which, in this case means 
 fingers of the machines, not the operators'), 93 ; knives 
 broken or lost, 18 ; pins, screws and bolts broken or lost, 
 17 ; and one instance, of each sort, of breaking a track- 
 clearer, a pole, an axle, an iron brace, a crank and a cog- 
 wheel. What amount of wreckage would have been 
 disclosed, had the records of the entire forty machines 
 been sent in, can only be conjectured ; but what is given 
 signifies that the mowing machine, as a practical farming 
 implement, had just begun its career, and that skill was 
 lacking in the makers, and, no doubt, the operators also. 
 
 The invention appears to have been sufficiently per- 
 fected to work on the level, alluvial fields of the West a 
 few years earlier than upon the irregular land surfaces of 
 New England. A practical working machine had long 
 been sought for. Attempts to produce such are recorded 
 in the pages of history, at various dates, from the time of 
 the Roman Empire, forward. In a reference to tl^e subject 
 in one of the publications of the society it is remarked, 
 that the colonial legislature of Massachusetts granted a 
 patent for a mowing machine. In trusting to his memory 
 the writer made an error, but it was a very natural one ; 
 for the patent was granted for a *' mowing engine.'* Al- 
 though the event ante-dates the existence of the society, a 
 mention of it will not be wholly out of place here, since 
 it relates directly to agriculture, and shows that inventive 
 talent, as applicable in that useful art, received encourage- 
 ment, in Massachusetts, almost from the beginning. The 
 case is nearly parallel to that given among the anecdotes 
 of Dr. Franklin. In an exigency when Philadelphia was 
 threatened with invasion, more ordnance was needed. 
 Knowing that the Quakers of that city would not con- 
 tribute, directly, for the procuring of war material, he 
 suggested to them that a fund, already accumulated by 
 them, for the purchase of a fire engine, might be applied 
 
!16 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 in buying a cannon, " since a cannon is a fire engine.'^ 
 The doctor did no violence to the English language, nor 
 "did the Massachusetts General Court of the year 1655. 
 The following was their enactment : 
 
 May 23, 1655. Itt is ordered that Joseph Jencks, sem., 
 and his assignes, only, shall haue libertje graunted to them 
 to make that engine the sajd Jencks hath proposed to this 
 Court for the more speedy cutting of grasse, for seven 
 yeares, and that no inhabitant or other person within this 
 jurisdiction during that tjme shall make or vse any of 
 that kind of engine without license first obtajned from the 
 sajd Joseph Jencks, on the pcenalty of five pounds for 
 euery such engine so made or vsed, to be recouered at 
 any Court in this jvrisdiction by the sajd Joseph Jencks, 
 sen'., or his assignes. 
 
 All uncertainty as to the meaning of the statute is 
 cleared up by the author of the History of Lynn, who 
 states that Jenks was an inhabitant of that place, and 
 made an improvement in the scythe. The historian adds : 
 '• This improvement consisted in lengthening the blade, 
 making it thinner, and welding a square bar on the back, 
 to strengthen it, as in the modern scythe. Before this, an 
 old English blade was short and thick, like a bush scythe." 
 
 The trustees regarded the result of the competition of 
 1855, on the whole, with satisfaction. It showed what im- 
 provements were necessary, and that no inherent difficul- 
 ties existed. They say in the official report that " rough 
 land covered with stones, hilly and broken surfaces and 
 reclaimed bogs were all brought under the dominion of 
 the machine ; " also, that " the farmer will gain in the end 
 by putting his field into better condition for the use of 
 the machine, with a consequence to be hoped for, of 
 clearer and better ordered fields, and the removal of 
 stumps and stones that have been too long an eye-sore 
 and a disgrace to many of our farms j" and furthermore, 
 that, " the better and stouter the grass, the more perfect 
 has been the working of the machine, in all respects— an 
 inducement to better cultivation." It had been stipulated 
 that the committee might, at their option, divide the total 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 11 T 
 
 premium among claimants of equal merit, and the 1600 
 was shared equally in the award between Marcus Barrett 
 of Auburn and S. Parsons & Son of Northampton. 
 
 In the offer of 'flOOO premium for the next year, the 
 appeal was distinctly to the manufacturers, it being' 
 for " the best mowing machine that shall be made and 
 used in the summer of 1856 " — that is, the trial was to be 
 with newl}^ made machines, and to continue during the 
 haying season, thus securing the latest improvements and 
 an adequate test. A committee of three practical farm- 
 ers, not members of the society, was appointed to super- 
 vise the competition, and make the award. They added 
 one more condition, that each competitor should mow five 
 acres in the presence of the committee on a day fixed by 
 them, and in a field chosen by the exhibitor. Ten ma- 
 chines were entered, and after trial, five were set aside, as 
 being so far inferior that they could not be taken into 
 consideration, and one, as not being adapted to the varied 
 surface of this State. The remaining four were assigned 
 to work in succession on small lots of grass, of equal di- 
 mensions, in the same field, each machine being drawn by 
 the same pair of horses and managed by the same driver, 
 who was not interested in any machine. A like trial was 
 had on meadow-bottom, which had never been ploughed, 
 where various natural grasses, coarse and fine, were in- 
 termixed. The award of 11000 was to D. C. Henderson of 
 Sandusky, Ohio. The report of the committee abounds 
 in details, but no statistics of breakage are given, whence, 
 perhaps, it may be inferred that the havoc witnessed in 
 the preceding year had duly admonished the manufactur- 
 ing experts, leading them to adopt, mentally, a standard 
 for design and workmanship approaching to that pre- 
 sejated by Dr. Holmes in his poem entitled the "One Hoss 
 Shay." This retrospect will supply the historically 
 minded reader- with two dates — that when, what to modern 
 generations has been known as the scythe, first came into 
 use, being the product of a Massachusetts inventor ; and 
 
118 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 that when this hitherto universal implement began to be 
 supplanted, and the new era in grass-cutting began. 
 
 The report contained the following commentary : '* The 
 trustees have now done all that lies in their power to in- 
 troduce the mowing machine into use, as a great labor- 
 saving implement. They hope not only that it will be 
 adopted, but that it will lead the way to the use of others, 
 equally labor-saving and quite as essential to the prosper- 
 ity of agriculture in Massachusetts." 
 
 In 1857 George Williams Lyman was chosen president 
 of the society in place of John C. Gray, resigned. The 
 trustees appropriated $200 for the importation from Eng- 
 land of two hay-making machines, known as " tedders." 
 On arrival, the next year, one was placed with President 
 Lyman, at his farm in Waltham, and one with George B. 
 Loring, a trustee, at his farm in Salem. Of their work- 
 ing each made a report, which was warmly commenda- 
 tory. Both the reports were published in one of the 
 pamphlet issues of the society, and in more permanent 
 form in the volume of transactions, and no doubt contrib- 
 uted to the general adoption of the apparatus, which fol- 
 lowed. The apparatus did not go into general use, how- 
 ever, in its original form ; for the new machines made here 
 were much lighter in weight and less cumbrous in opera- 
 ation. 
 
 The herd of Jersey cattle imported in 1851 was kept 
 as the property of the society at the farm of Thomas 
 Motley, Jr., in West Roxbury, until 1856. The bull 
 calves were all raised and sold according to the arrange- 
 ment made with him, as his property. The purchasers 
 were breeders of reputation in different parts of the 
 State. In 1856 the cows and heifers were exhibited 
 by the society at the annual Worcester county cattle 
 show, and were there sold by auction. The central situa- 
 tion in the State of the show-ground, and the convenience 
 of access by railroad, induced a large attendance of farm- 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 119 
 
 ei's, 80 that the purchasers of the cattle represented an 
 extensive region, and thereby a distribution was made in 
 a manner satisfactory to the trustees. 
 
 In 1858, agreeably to a plan decided upon in the pre- 
 ceding year, the trustees made an arrangement with 
 Sanford Howard, an expert of reputation in cattle of pure 
 blood, to visit Scotland and purchase four bulls and ten 
 heifers of Ayrshire stock, of the Swinley strain. The 
 sum of $3,500 was voted for the purpose, with instruc- 
 tions to Mr. Howard, if it proved insufficient, to diminish 
 the number but not the quality of the cattle. In the 
 course of the season they were shipped in two vessels, and 
 on arrival were placed at the farm of Nathan W. Brown, 
 in Topsfield. The management of the herd was similar to 
 that followed in previous like instances. In 1859 the 
 stock then remaining was removed to Mr. Motley's farm 
 in West Roxbury, and during the following year the ani- 
 mals were sold by auction to prominent farmers and 
 breeders in Roxbury, Salem, Marblehead, Southbridge 
 and Topsfield. In 1858 a bequest of $9,166.07 from Dr. 
 George C. Shattuck, Sen., was received and added to the 
 permanent funds of the society. 
 
 In 1859 the trustees received a communication from the 
 Hampden County Society, setting forth a project for or- 
 ganizing a State Agricultural Society, and expressing in- 
 tention to apply for an independent charter, unless the 
 Massachusetts society preferred to cooperate in the move- 
 ment through such amendments of its charter as would 
 have a like effect. The trustees voted to put the docu- 
 ment on file, and to have the following entered upon the 
 records, as a memorandum explanatory of the views of 
 the society : 
 
 By reference to page 408, of volume 6, of the society's 
 publications of the year 1821, it will be seen that the 
 society had not, up to that period, and it certainly has not 
 since, arrogated to itself the position of a State agricultu- 
 ral society. In speaking of the formation of a State 
 agricultural society in New Hampshire, the trustees of 
 
120 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 that date say, " With us we have no such establishment. 
 The Massachusetts society has nothing which gives it 
 either authority or pre-eminence over any county society. 
 Nor do we wish that any such power should be delegated. 
 We cannot conceive any advantage which could be 
 derived from any general society. If local, with general 
 powers, it would be the object of jealousy. If composed 
 of gentlemen from all parts of the State, its meetings 
 would be few, formal, expensive and productive of no 
 substantial good. All that agricultural societies ought to 
 wish is a charter to enable them to manage their funds, 
 and occasional aid from the Legislature, to enable them to 
 give that spring to agricultural experiments which is the 
 soul of all exertion." 
 
 During the same year the trustees voted to have the 
 following entered upon the records : 
 
 Voted, as the opinion of the board of trustees, that the 
 introduction of trials of speed between horses, and 
 awarding premiums therefor, is a perversion of the objects 
 originally contemplated in the establishment of agricultu- 
 ral shows ; that the effect has been to withdraw attention 
 from the exhibition of stock and other farm products, and 
 to discourage their being brought to the shows for com- 
 petition. 
 
 Voted, that this board will entertain no application for 
 aid or countenance, in any form, to any agricultural show 
 where trials of speed between horses are allowed, or where 
 the greatest speed is made the test of superiority in 
 awarding any premium on horses. 
 
 The society has ever since continued the policy as 
 stated in the foregoing vote. 
 
 In March, 1860, the trustees appointed a committee, 
 consisting of George B. Loring, Richard S. Fay and Peter 
 C. Brooks, Jr., to appear before any committee appointed 
 by the Legislature to consider the prevalent contagious, 
 fatal disease among neat cattle, known as pleuro pneu- 
 monia, and to advocate efficient preventive legislation. 
 The board also voted to appropriate $2,000 as a guaranty 
 fund to aid in extirpating the disease. On Sept. 12, 1861, 
 the trustees adopted the following : 
 
FOR PKOMOTING AGRICULTUKE. 121 
 
 t 
 
 Voted, that the secretary of the State Board of Agri- 
 culture be informed, with a request that he will inform 
 also the Executive, that, in consideration of the present 
 condition of this country, this society will not this year 
 call for the annual bounty of |600 furnished by the State. 
 
 The war had begun, and the trustees felt that the 
 State's money was more needed for her soldiers- at the 
 front, than it was needed for the society's work in Massa- 
 chusetts. On Oct. 18 of the same year, the following was- 
 adopted by the board. 
 
 Voted, to invest $1500, now in the hands of the treas- 
 urer, in the seven-thirty loan of the United States. 
 
 The latter vote might not seem to signify much to read- 
 ers whose memory does not reach back to the trying 
 experiences of the civil war ; or, in ignorance of the facts^ 
 it might seem only to mean that a prudent investment 
 was made at a good rate of interest. But the prophets of 
 evil were many in those days, though fewer, indeed, in 
 this, than some other northern states. Such decried the* 
 ability of the government to fulfill its promises of money 
 payment ; predicted that the war would end in ruin of the 
 national credit, and, with special reference to currency 
 notes, or " greenbacks," declared that the time would 
 soon come, when a farmer would not be willing to ex- 
 change his load of wood for greenbacks, cord for cord." 
 It argued the possession of patriotic feeling as well as 
 cool judgment, at the point of time named, to invest in- 
 government securities. The trustees were men of that 
 stamp, and no doubt felt, besides, that it would be action in 
 the direction of the society's mission to contribute, in this 
 way, to sustain the government, under whose triumphant 
 sword, only, could the arts of peace be expected to flour- 
 ish. Investments in national securities to the amount of 
 17,000, or more, were made subsequently, to which the 
 precise comment might be less applicable ; for as the war 
 progressed, the panicky feeling subsided. During the con- 
 tinuance of the war the annual state bounty was declined. 
 
 In 1861, the Bussey Farm, so called, at West Roxbury, 
 
122 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 V 
 
 having become, by bequest, the property of Harvard Col- 
 lege, some negotiations were had, initiated, apparently, 
 by the college authorities, looking to a cooperation in 
 scientific education in agricultural matters. This was 
 later attained to in a modified form, whereby the society 
 granted pecuniary aid to this department of college in- 
 struction. In 1864 a series of experiments by the society 
 was completed, in which a careful study was made of 
 several different jnethods of applying manure, record of 
 the crop obtained by each method being kept. In each 
 experiment, five lots of land, of equal size, were used, and 
 the work was carried through three successive years, with 
 different crops each year. One lot, in each case, had no 
 manure ; and thus its yield served as a minimum, from 
 which the comparative yield, by different methods of ma- 
 nuring, could be measured. The first experiment was 
 begun in 1860, and the third in 1862. About a dozen 
 competitors, in different parts of the State, participated 
 in each instance. The results were tabulated, and pub- 
 lished in pamphlets, by the society, and also in the reports 
 of the Board of Agriculture. The society made awards 
 to the amount of $300, for the best three experiments in 
 each set, or $900 in all. 
 
 In 1863 a report was made by a committee appointed 
 that year to consider the best method of applying the ac- 
 cumulated funds of the society. The recommendation was 
 to import and maintain a breeding stock of horses, adapted 
 to farm work and drayage ; and the Percheron breed, 
 which exists, as stated, in its most perfect form and high- 
 est condition in Le Perche, a district of Normandy, in 
 France, was approved. The report affirmed that this 
 breed would not only be a gain to the agriculturalist, in 
 securing a better class of work-horses for farm use, but a 
 class readily marketable as dray horses and the like, and 
 therefore profitable to a farmer who inclined to breed 
 stock. Incidentally it was remarked that the breeding of 
 horses for high speed does not pay the farmer, " though 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 123 
 
 once in a lifetime he may get a fancy price for an animal 
 of this character, if he keeps it long enough, and follows 
 it upon trotting courses for days and years, when he 
 should be upon his farm." 
 
 The recommendation was carried into effect at once, 
 and the equivalent of $25,000 francs was voted for the 
 purpose. As the value of United States paper money 
 then stood, it required to purchase the exchange, $7,352.- 
 94. Correspondence was entered into with Mr. G. T. 
 Richards, resident in Paris. \Early in the winter the sec- 
 retary of the society, Richard S. Fay, was in Paris, and 
 all the arrangements were perfected, so that the purchase 
 and exportation from France should be made, under Mr. 
 Richards' direction, in the spring of 1864. The horses, 
 two stallions and three mares, arrived at Mr. Motley's 
 farm on July 5, of that year. Afterwards they were 
 placed at the Bussey Farm, some arrangement as to 
 rental, and building a new stable for them, having been 
 made with the college authorities, who were conducting 
 the farm for purposes of agricultural instruction. An ex- 
 cellent bargain had been made by Mr. Richards, both as to 
 (quality and cost, and the animals commanded general ad- 
 miration. The members of the Board of Agriculture made 
 an official visit to the premises, and leading farmers came 
 from distant parts of the State to behold the society's new 
 acquisition. The trustees expressed their satisfaction, and 
 their appreciation of Mr. Richards' efforts, by tendering him 
 a vote of thanks, and electing him an honorary member of 
 the society. The stallions were named " Conqueror " and 
 " Orleans." The following was the weight of the animals : 
 Conqueror, 1470 lbs. ; Orleans, 1270 lbs.; Empress, 1410 
 lbs.; Normandy, 1330 lbs. ; Lyons, 1360 lbs. Photographs 
 of Conqueror and Orleans were engraved for the Board of 
 Agriculture, and published in the annual report of that 
 body. Premiums of 8200, |150 and $100 were offered, an- 
 nually, for the three best yearling colts, the progeny of the 
 stallions. In 1866 the stallions were exhibited at the 
 
124 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 county agricultural show in Concord, and in 1867 at that 
 in Springfield. 
 
 During the third quarter of a century of the society's 
 existence, its surplus or accrued funds were not applied y 
 in premiums, by any constant system. In some years no 
 premiums were paid ; and only one, that to encourage the 
 growth of forest trees for ship timber, was continuously 
 offered. In other years the total of premiums paid wa& 
 very small ; but money was expended with a liberal hand 
 in various ways, some of which have been mentioned. 
 Among the additional payments were the following : In 
 1853, for premiums at the national exhibition of horses, 
 f 250, and to aid the Legislative Agricultural Society in 
 giving lectures, 1100 ; in 1854, as premiums for the cattle 
 shows of the Worcester and the Berkshire societies, $150 
 each, and to purchase a Jersey bull for the State Reform 
 institution at Westboro, tflOO ; in 1855, for premiums at 
 the exhibition of the United States Agricultural Society, 
 held on the newly-filled territory between South Bay and 
 Harrison Avenue, 11,000, and the same year, to the Ply- 
 mouth County society, for premiums, $125 ; in 1856, for 
 premiums on dairy stock at an exhibition held at the 
 same time with the annual cattle show of the Worcester 
 County society, nearly $2,000 ; in 1857, for premiums at 
 a State exhibition, the awards being made under the di- 
 rection of the Board of Agriculture, |2,000 ; in 1858, as a 
 subscription for the purchase, for the Natural History 
 Society, of Dr. T. W. Harris's collection of insects in 
 Massachusetts injurious to vegetation, $150 ; in 1861, to- 
 aid the Barnstable Agricultural Society, $200 ; in 1866, 
 to aid the Botanical Garden of Harvard University, $500 ;. 
 in 1867, to pay the tuition fees of three deserving students- 
 at the State Agricultural College, $150. 
 
 Various pamphlets relating to agriculture were issued 
 from time to time, and the expense of an agricultural sur- 
 vey of the counties of Middlesex and Essex, in 1858 and 
 1859, was met by the society. In 1858, premiums of $150' 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 125 
 
 in each case were offered for the best essay on the com- 
 parative economy of the labor of horses and oxen ; on the 
 most desirable breed of neat cattle for this state, having 
 regard for yield of milk, for work and for beef ; on ma- 
 nures ; and on agricultural education. In 1855 was be- 
 gun a series of annual importations of different varieties 
 of turnip and beet seeds, which continued for ten years. 
 The Ipwest figure of value in any year was il04, and the 
 highest f350. For two years the record is of weight 
 only, viz.; 200 pounds eaclf of yellow-globe mangold, 
 long-red mangold, ruta baga and sugar beet, and the next 
 year somewhat less than half the quantity. These seeds 
 were distributed among the farmers of the state, gratui- 
 tously, principally through the Board of Agriculture and 
 the Committee on Agriculture of the General Court. 
 
 Accordingly, at the date of the annual meeting of 1867, 
 the members of the society could look back upon twenty- 
 five years of very useful and very miscellaneous work ; 
 and, although they had to a great extent proceeded by 
 quite different methods, they had no cause to feel that 
 they had done less than their predecessors, of either of the 
 two preceding like periods, in promoting agriculture. 
 
 The Percheron stallions, after being exhibited at Spring- 
 field in the autumn of 1867, were kept in the western 
 part of the state for a year, and then returned to West 
 Roxbury. In June, 1870, all the Percheron stock was 
 sold by auction, excepting the stallion Murat and a filly. 
 In November, 1871, Murat was sold. The general result 
 of this importation of French horses was regarded with 
 great satisfaction by the trustees ; and during the follow- 
 ing years favorable reports as to the practical value of the 
 horses were heard, from time to time, derived from farmers 
 and others who were using them. In 1875, the mare 
 Empress, of this importation, was sold by her owner, with 
 a cart and harness, at an auction sale, for $400 ; and the 
 person who reported the fact to one of the trustees, said 
 that the horse ''never looked better." 
 
126 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 In 1867 it was decided to import a small lot of Jersey 
 cattle, and to make a conditional gift of them to the Farm' 
 School, an educational institution situated on Thompson's 
 island, in Boston harbor. The expectation was that the 
 herd, being thus isolated, would become of high reputa- 
 tion, as unquestionably pure-blood Jerseys. In the spring 
 of 1868, Mr. Thomas Motley, first vice president of the 
 society, voyaged to Europe and visited the isle of Jersey, 
 where he bought, for the society, a bull and three heifers, 
 which, on arrival, were placed at Thompson's island. 
 The cost altogether was about iloOO. One of the condi- 
 tions of the gift was that the bull calves should be the 
 property of the society. Gifts of young bulls were sub- 
 sequently made, one to the Sailors' Snug Harbor, one to 
 the National Sailors' Home, and one to the Barnstable 
 County Agricultural Society. One or two were sold. 
 About the year 1873 the herd suffered a decline, and the 
 society relinquished, for a while, any responsibility. Un- 
 der a new method of management, a complete restoration 
 was effected, so that in 1879 the trustees expressed, offi- 
 cially, their full satisfaction, and ordered an expenditure 
 of $108 for a proper recording in the herd-book, and the 
 putting up of posts, rings and chains in the place of stan- 
 chions, for the greater comfort of the animals. 
 
 In October, 1868, the subject of artificial propagation 
 of food fishes was brought up in an essay by Theodore 
 Lyman, the treasurer of the society, the argument, in part, 
 being directed to a profitable use of brooks and ponds by 
 farmers. At the December meeting, premiums of -11)300 
 and '$200 were offered for the two best fish-breeding es- 
 tablishments for fresh-water fishes. There were six or 
 seven competitors, and the award of the larger sum was 
 made, in 1872, to Dexter, Bacon & Coolidge of West Barn- 
 stable, and the smaller to Walter Gilbert of Russell Mills, 
 Plymouth. In 1869 action was taken preparatory to giv- 
 ing, in the autumn, a stock exhibition by the society, in 
 Boston, in the building called the " Coliseum," a structure 
 erected for a musical festival held in the course of the 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 127 
 
 summer ; but the negotiations failed through a division of 
 opinion, or of authority, among the owners of the building, 
 and the trustees reluctantly abandoned their project. 
 
 In 1870 Thomas Motley was chosen president of the so- 
 ciety, in place of George W. Lyman, who resigned after a 
 service in that office of 13 yeafs. In 1870 a premium of 
 $1,000 was paid to B. Perley Poore of Newbury for a plan- 
 tation of forest trees. This premium was offered in 1857, 
 the conditions, in part, being that the area must be at least 
 five acres, the trees of a wood used in shipbuilding, with 
 one white oak for every twenty square yards of ground, the 
 award to be made in 1870. In April, 1871, the trustees 
 ordered an importation of twelve English harrows, for use 
 in loosening the surface of grass land and pastures, and 
 breaking into fragments top-dressing, or other fertilizing 
 material, thereupon. In August, an exhibition of the appa- 
 ratus was made before the trustees, at a farm in Brookline, 
 and it received, promptly, the official approval and recom- 
 mendation. At the same meeting in August, a paper was 
 read describing the appearance and habits of the potato 
 bug, or Colorado beetle, and giving account of its ravages 
 in some places, with suggestion of remedial measures. It 
 was ordered to be printed and distributed at once for the 
 information of farmers in this State. 
 
 In 1872 was received the amount of a bequest to the so- 
 ciety by Francois Andre Michaux of Versailles, France, a 
 net sum of f 7,807.67. He was an eminent scientist who 
 gave his attention chiefly to botany and related subjects. 
 He visited this country first in 1785, with his father, Andre 
 Michaux, who was of equal eminence as a botanist. His 
 second visit was in 1801, when he carried to completion 
 certain investigations and experiments which his father had 
 begun. He came again in 1806 and made an exploration 
 of the whole Atlantic seaboard region, from Maine to Geor- 
 gia, inclusive. Another sojourn occurred in 1816, at which 
 time he was elected an honorary member of the Massachu- 
 setts Society for Promoting Agriculture. He received a 
 
128 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 like recognition from the American Philosophical Society 
 of Philadelphia. In his will, made in 18e52, he made be- 
 jquests to both societies. He had previously written a letter 
 to a friend in this country announcing a purpose so to do, 
 and explains by saying : '' I wish to give the American na- 
 tion a testimonial of my gratitude for the hospitality and 
 assistance my father and myself received in that country, 
 during the course of our long and toilsome journeys." The 
 Society's records give no intimation of the special form in 
 which the attentions, for which he expresses gratitude, were 
 bestowed. But the character of the work he was engaged 
 in, and his superior qualifications as a man of science, 
 could not have failed to commend him to those, who, at 
 either date, held official or prominent position in the soci- 
 ety. Doubtless he received many personal attentions, as 
 well as the official one of election to honorary membership. 
 
 The result of his investigations in this country was pub- 
 lished in different editions under the title of " Sylva Amer- 
 icana.'^ A set of the final and perfected edition, of five il- 
 lustrated volumes, was purchased by the society, and is a 
 part of its library. By the terms of the will, the fund is 
 applicable in experiments in producing new cereals in hor- 
 ticulture and arboriculture, and, especially, the cultivation 
 of hardy forest trees, which the testator judged might pro- 
 fitably be grown on sterile or sandy land, or land encum- 
 bered with rocks or quagmires. In a general way, such 
 undertakings had already received encouragement from the 
 society, and so continued ; but the legacy was greatly ap- 
 preciated, as permitting of expenditure, in these lines, with 
 a more liberal hand. 
 
 In 1876 measures were taken to encourage the planting 
 of forest trees, by enlarging the premium list and modifying 
 the conditions, the premiums offered being 11,000, 'S600 
 and $400 for the best, and second and third best plantations, 
 of not less than five acres. The trees v^ere to be Scotch or 
 Corsican pine, in Barnstable, Dukes and Nantucket coun- 
 ties, and European larch elsewhere in the State ; to be grown 
 
FOR PKOMOTING AGRICULTURE. 129 
 
 on land not suitable for general agricultural purposes, and 
 to have 2,700 trees per acre ; also premiums of 1600 and 
 $4:00 were offered for five acre lots of white ash, not less 
 than 5,000 to the acre. 
 
 It was also voted to reprint, for gratuitous distribution, 
 an edition of 10,000 copies of the essay on forest-tree plant- 
 ing by Prof. Charles S. Sargent of Harvard College, a 
 trustee of this society. This was originally published in 
 the annual report of the Board of Agriculture, and was now 
 issued with a new preface, written by the professor. 
 
 A plan of co-operation with Harvard College in making 
 experiments, and giving instruction in agricultural chemis- 
 try, arboriculture and botany, as related to agriculture, was 
 agreed upon soon after the college authorities established 
 the Bussey Institute, and organized it with a corps of pro- 
 fessors. About 12,500 per annum was applied in this way, 
 during the ten years prior to 1880, the grant being, once or 
 twice, as large as 13,500, and reduced to $1500 in other- 
 years ; and a part of the expenditure each year was made 
 at the Botanic Garden in Cambridge. The experiments 
 were made to some extent under the direction or in con- 
 formity with suggestions of the trustees, and consisted in 
 part of analyses of soils, and patented or imported fertili- 
 zers. The State Agricultural College was also a beneficiary 
 of the society during the same period, the gift being about 
 8250, each year, for scholarships. Various other things 
 helpful to agriculture were done, among which were the is- 
 suing of pamphlets, treating on new or otherwise pertinent 
 topics ; the donation of $500 as premiums at the exhibition 
 of the Pomological Society in 1873, and $500 to the same 
 in 1880 ; a gift of $200 to aid an ingenious student at the 
 Agricultural College in perfecting his device for a steam 
 plough ; a gift of 1500 to aid the Agassiz summer school at 
 Pemikese island, a part of the instruction there given, hav- 
 ing relation to agriculture ; a gift of $250 for engraving 
 plates to illustrate a treatise on the fungi of trees and 
 plants, being the result of studies by one of the professors 
 
130 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 at the Bassey Institute ; also for translating and printing 
 an illustrated French work on tree pruning, for gratuitous 
 distribution, f 300 ; and for premiums at a butter show in 
 Greenfield, in 1879, -^100. 
 
 In 1874 the society made an importation of a bull and 
 eight cows of Guernsey stock, for the purchase of which 
 President Motley visited the isle of Guernsey. The bull 
 was named in the American herd book the " Duke of 
 Guernsey," thereby disusing the English herd-book name, 
 though still permitting in the record the pedigree to be 
 traced. A fine photograph of the animal was obtained, 
 which continues to adorn the wall of the society's office, 
 and attracts the attention and commands the admiration of 
 visiting connoisseurs. The herd, on arrival, was placed in a 
 suitable building on the Bussey Farm, the use of which was 
 granted by the college authorities. Some extraordinary 
 statistics of yield of milk and butter are contained in the 
 society's records relating to this herd. The calves were 
 sold, from time to time, for ?i?100 each. In 1875 the fame 
 of the cattle being established throughout the State, and the 
 adaptibility of the breed to the climate being assured, the 
 herd was sold by auction, and a good distribution was made. 
 The prices thus obtained, in general, were low as compared 
 with the cost ; but one cow was sold for 1300, and a six 
 anonths calf for |100. 
 
 In 1876 an importation of Berkshire and Essex swine 
 was made. One of the trustees, Mr. E. F. Bowditch, vis- 
 ited Europe that season and made the purchases. The ani- 
 mals were placed at his celebrated farm in South Framing- 
 ham. The enterprise proved very successful, and another 
 importation was made in 1877, so that the collection aggre- 
 gated at one time a hundred or more. In the year 1880 
 the sales from this stock amounted to ^1,169. 
 
 In 1877 premiums were offered for the most successful 
 experiments in converting salt marsh into arable land, by 
 dyking and draining. A considerable degree of success at- 
 tended, during certain years, the experiments made at 
 Thompson's island and at Edgartown ; but neither was 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICIJLTURE. 131 
 
 judged to be so continuously prosperous as to warrant an 
 award at the end of the term. 
 
 In 1878 the trustees authorized the reprinting of a book 
 originally issued by the society in 1866, entitled, ''High 
 farming without manure." It was a translation of a French 
 work written by M. George Viele, professor of vegetable 
 physiology in the Museum of Natural History in Paris. In 
 it he explains at length a series of experiments begun by 
 him in 1860 with artificial manures, now commonly called 
 ^' fertilizers." The experiments were based upon principles 
 of chemistry; the tests were made upon adequate areas of 
 farming land, and the results he obtained vindicated the 
 scientific theory which he had announced, as to vegetable 
 processes and growth. All the compounds now commer- 
 cially known as fertilizers, are prepared in a manner gen- 
 erally conformable to this theory. The society's large edi- 
 tion originally published was promptly taken up, and the 
 re-issue was in response to a continued popular demand. 
 It is doubtless to be regarded as an indirect consequence 
 of M. Viele's announcements that in February, 1873, the 
 trustees voted to import from Germany, for distribution 
 among Massachusetts farmers, six tons of chemical ma- 
 nures. Samples of these were analyzed subsequently for 
 the society, by Prof. Francis H. Storer of the Bussey In- 
 stitute. Of like significance is the shipment, in April, 
 1873, as a gift to the society from John Bennett Lawes of 
 Rotherham, Eng., of three tons of super-phosphate. 
 
 In 1882 the society entered upon another series of impor- 
 tations of live stock. At the beginning of the year, action 
 was taken preparatory to the purchase abroad of not ex- 
 ceeding six stallions of the Percheron breed. In April, 
 when President Motley was about to visit Europe, the board 
 desired him to make the purchase. In July, a letter was 
 received from him, saying that the demand had been such, 
 and so many recent exportation s had been made, that it 
 was doubtful if a good selection could be made at satisfac- 
 tory prices. A cable reply was sent authorizing the pur- 
 chase, at his discretion, of five stallions, at not exceeding 
 
132 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 $1,500 each. These were bought, and on arrival were sent 
 to Mr. Bowditch's farm in South Framingham. They bore 
 the names of Nelluscot, Brilliant, Mercury, Marseilles and 
 Magot. Within a short time they were sent to different 
 parts of the State, and were kept as the society's property 
 until 1888, when they were sold by auction in Boston, 
 During several years, premiums of 8100, $75 and |50 were 
 paid for the best yearling colts of their progeny. 
 
 Early in 1882 action was taken for the importation of 
 rams of superior breeds. These consisted of twelve South- 
 downs, eight Cotswolds, eight Shropshires, six Hampshires, 
 two Oxford Downs and one of the Lincoln breed. Their 
 first distribution was by loan to farmers, in different parts- 
 of the State ; but in 1883, they were re-assembled and sold, 
 by auction, to farmers in the towns of Chester, Mendon, 
 South Deerfield, Ipswich, Medfield, Sutton, Hudson, Hub- 
 bardston, Worcester, Middlefield, Middleboro, Hopkinton, 
 Sterling, Shelborne, New Braintree, Enfield, West Bridge- 
 water, Barre, Newbury, Brockton, HoUiston, Palmer, Hoi- 
 yoke, Leicester, Cohasset, Egremont, Wales and Marshfield, 
 Although the proceeds of the sale amounted to but about 
 half the cost of the animals, the official report on the mat- 
 ter expresses satisfaction, saying that the object of the so- 
 ciety had been accomplished, in having them well scattered 
 throughout the State. In July, 1883, an importation of 
 ninety-nine ewes of favored breeds was made, at a cost of 
 nearly |5,000, and for these, by auction sale, a like distribu- 
 tion was obtained. 
 
 In October, 1882, the board was informed by one of its 
 members that the authorities of Harvard University had 
 taken measures to establish a veterinary school, and had 
 already appointed a professor for that department. This 
 was a realization of what had been recommended thirty- 
 eight years before, in a report made to the trustees by Dr. 
 J. C. Warren, which has already been alluded to. At that 
 time the plan of an organized school was recognized, in the 
 report, as not practicable financially. The trustees now 
 voted 15,000 to aid the new department of the university. 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 133 
 
 Some conditions were attached, which circumstances made 
 it difficult to carry into effect, and after negotiation and a 
 comparison of views, the sum of $2,000 was granted, uncon- 
 ditionally, payable " whenever an arrangement satisfactory 
 to the college has been made for an establishment." 
 
 In February, 1885, a contagious disease having appeared, 
 known as " hog-cholera " or swine-fever,'' a committee of 
 trustees was appointed to call the official attention of the 
 Executive of the State to the situation. Governor Ames 
 responded in a special message to the Legislature, and an 
 act was promptly passed to provide authority and means to 
 exterminate the disease. The act was general and covered 
 any contagious disease which existed, or might appear, 
 among domestic animals, and provided a penalty for a wil- 
 ful suppression or withholding of information of the presence 
 of such diseases. 
 
 In 1887 a premium of #1,000 was awarded and paid to 
 J. D. W. French, of North Andover, for a plantation of 
 larch trees, raised by him, in conformity with the terms of 
 the society's premium offers of 1876. The official report of 
 the matter says that the trees were European larches, about 
 15,000 in number; as originally planted. They were set to 
 cover an area of five acres, about four feet apart, excepting 
 along the boundaries of the field, where they were placed 
 nearer together. The land was a steep slope, facing to the 
 south, covered with a thin coating of gravelly loam, mixed, 
 towards the bottom of the hill, with light sand. It was of 
 no value for tillage, but had been used for pasturage, though, 
 of little worth for that, having but the scantiest growth of 
 native sedges and grasses. During the ten years some of 
 the trees died, so that the space was not covered with equal 
 density ; but, as was estimated, from 10,000 to 12,000 thrifty 
 trees were then upon the ground. They were not of equal 
 height throughout, the highest tree being twenty-five feet, 
 and measuring at the butt twenty-six inches in circumfer- 
 ence ; but those spoken of as the smallest averaged twelve 
 feet height, with trunks of ten or twelve inches circumfer- 
 ence. Others appeared which were of spontaneous growth, 
 
134 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 among them white pines, six or eight feet high, pitch-pines, 
 fourteen feet high, a white oak, fifteen feet high, and a gray 
 birch, seventeen feet high. 
 
 The cost up to 1887, including purchase and importation, 
 labor, fencing, surveying and compound interest at five per 
 cent., had been, 1390.90. The committee remarked that 
 the experiment sliowed distinctly that the European larch 
 can be grown cheaply on very poor soil, but did not show 
 that native trees will not do as well, instancing the white 
 pine. 
 
 In 1886 a society having been incorporated as the Bay 
 State Agricultural Society, the trustees of the Massachu- 
 setts Society voted to give it financial support in holding a 
 stock exhibition in Boston. The vote was of a two-fold 
 character, providing a guaranty fund of 110,000 and a gift 
 outright of 12,500, to be applied in premiums in the name 
 of the Massachusetts Society. The efl'ect of the guaranty 
 was to give the new institution immediate financial credit- 
 The public response, in the purchase of tickets of admission 
 to the exhibition, was generous, and the enterprise yielded a 
 profit, so that the guaranty fund was not drawn upon. 
 There was no competition for one or two of the society's 
 premiums, and the expenditure under that head was but 
 {|2,200. Certain members of the board of trustees were 
 also members of the executive board of the Bay State 
 Society. 
 
 The exhibition was held in the spacious building of the 
 Charitable Mechanics' Association, on Huntington Avenue, 
 beginning on Wednesday, October 6, and closing on Satur- 
 day evening following. The situation was an ideal one, in 
 some respects, as adequate ventilation and a proper temper- 
 ature could be constantly maintained ; and so the choice and 
 valuable animals escaped such discomforts as those, which 
 may be called their predecessors, were liable to, on the 
 bleak hillsides of Brighton. In the evening the interior of 
 the building was lighted by electric lamps. The number of 
 spectators was constantly large. On one day the attend- 
 ance was estimated to be 23,000, an accurate enumeration 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 135 
 
 not being possible, as many were admitted by season 
 tickets. The figures, taking the four days into account, are 
 indicative of the increase of population and travelling facil- 
 ities in sixty years, when compared with the attendance of 
 4,000, which made a great day for Brighton ; and, consid- 
 ering that no admission fee was then asked, they prove, at 
 least, no diminution of popular interest in things agri- 
 cultural. 
 
 The exhibition comprised : Neat cattle, 609 : horses, 174 ; 
 sheep, 285 ; swine, 161 ; coops of poultry, 745 ; entries of 
 machines, implements, vegetables, fruits, dairy products, 
 etc., 4,404. It was unrestricted as to territory, and the ag- 
 riculture of each of the New England states, and New York 
 state, was represented. In 1888 the Bay State Society gave 
 an exhibition at Springfield, which was not guaranteed by the 
 Massachusetts Society, though fl,500 in premiums was 
 granted by the latter. In 1889 another exhibition, with guar- 
 anty, was given in the Huntington Avenue building, which 
 was substantially a repetition of that of 1886, and at which 
 the full sum of 12,500 was paid by the Massachusetts Soci 
 ety in premiums, the trustees of that Society being again 
 represented on the board of directors. 
 
 In 1884 the trustees reprinted for gratuitous circulation 
 a small volume entitled " the legal rights and liabilities of 
 farmers." Its author was Edmund H. Bennett, LLD., dean 
 of the Boston University School of Law. In style it was 
 familiar and concise. It was generally appreciated by 
 those for whose reading it was intended, and the edition 
 was soon exhausted. In it the main points of common and 
 statute law were presented, as applicable to bargaining for a 
 farm, to farm boundaries, the hiring of help, rights in the 
 public road, rights of way over farm lands, railroad rights 
 of way, farm fences, impounding cattle, injuries to and by 
 farm animals, injuries by dogs, farmers' liabilities for the 
 acts of their hired men, fires in the fields and woods, drain- 
 age and flowage rights, trespassing, overhanging trees, 
 lightning-rod agents and peddlers of patents. 
 
 In May, 1884, the trustees granted the sum of 8300 in aid 
 
136 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 of certain experiments to be conducted by Desmond Fitz- 
 gerald, superintendent of the western division of the Boston 
 Water Works. The experiments were designed to ascer- 
 tain the scientific facts and natural laws of evaporation, in 
 out-door situations, and had primary reference to the con- 
 ditions of water supply. To this end they were conducted 
 upon an ample scale ; and among the tests applied, were 
 such as would denote the relative evaporation of cleared 
 surfaces of land, and those which are covered with forest. 
 This latter inquiry was divided into separate observations 
 of forests of evergreen, and those of deciduous trees. Con- 
 temporary records were kept in each case. The outcome 
 of such an investigation would manifestly be of instructive 
 interest to all engaged in problems of practical agriculture, 
 and might disclose facts or laws, a knowledge of which 
 would be of great value to the farmer, and of immediate 
 applicability. The experiments were encouraged by the 
 trustees, by making additional grants of 1200 in the latter 
 part of 1884, and 1100 in 1889. The best apparatus was 
 obtained, and the observations were continued through five 
 years, together with meteorological observations requisite 
 for comparison. The labor of tabulating and collating the 
 facts for adequate scientific deduction, has not yet been 
 completed, but is in progress. 
 
 On November 8, 1889, the trustees took action for an in- 
 vestigation of the gipsy moth, a destructive insect which 
 had appeared in West Medford, and |225 was voted for 
 printing and distributing in the farming districts, bulletins 
 descriptive of the moth and its habits. Nothing farther 
 was done, it being announced at the next meeting of the 
 trustees, that the State authorities had begun operations for 
 the suppression of the pest. 
 
 Among the minor transactions of the society during the 
 closing ten years of the century, are the advocacy, before 
 committees of the Legislature, of statutes, whicli eventually 
 were enacted, exempting from taxation for a term of years, 
 new plantations of forest trees, and to prevent the destruc- 
 tion of forests by fires kindled through carelessness or other- 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 137 
 
 wise ; the payment duriog five years, prior to August 31, 
 1887, of $1,000, annually, to aid the department of the her- 
 barium at the Bussey Institute ; in 1884 the sum of '$300 to 
 Prof. William G. Farlow, of the Institute, for engravings to 
 illustrate a treatise on rust in grain and grasses ; in 1882 
 the sum which had been usual for several years, for scholar- 
 ships at the State Agricultural College ; in 1883, for en- 
 gravings, and printing a treatise on the pine moth of Nan- 
 tucket, $237 ; in 1886, for certain experiments designed to 
 destroy potato bugs, $100 ; in 1887, for premiums for the 
 exhibition of the Massachusetts Poultry Association, $300 ; 
 in 1888, in aid of the United States agricultural exhibit at 
 the Exposition in Paris, by a display of plates published in 
 Michaux works, $100 ; in 1889, for premiums for the Bos- 
 ton Horse Show, $150, and in the same year, for an in- 
 sectory at the State Agricultural College, $200; in 1890, 
 for premiums at the Massachusetts Poultry Association's 
 exhibition, $200 ; and in 1891, for preparatory measures 
 for a Dairy Exhibit from New England at the World's 
 Fair, to take place at Chicago, $175. 
 
 In 1886 an investigation was begun, under the auspices 
 of the society, of certain diseases of milch cows, more es- 
 pecially that known as tuberculosis. In 1887 a farm in 
 West Roxbury was leased, which is called in the society's 
 records, the Experiment Farm. A considerable number of 
 diseased animals were procured, enough to represent the 
 several noticeable stages of the progress or development of 
 the disease. The chief immediate purpose of the investi- 
 gation was to ascertain whether the milk of tuberculous 
 cows was so infected by germs of the disease as to be a pos-' 
 sible, or probable, means of spreading the disease among 
 human beings, both when the animals were diseased in the 
 udder, and elsewhere. Incidentally the phenomena of the 
 disease, as a matter of scientific inquiry, and methods of 
 cure, were taken into consideration. A number of calves 
 of healthy animals were purchased, and these were fed with 
 the milk of diseased cows, and the consequences noted. 
 Experiments by inoculation were also made. Rabbits and 
 
138 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 guinea pigs were treated in like manner. During the first 
 season, the undertaking was in sole charge, as regards the 
 scientific part of it, of Dr. Austin Peters, a veterinarian of 
 the first reputation, and in 1888 Dr. Harold C. Ernst, of 
 the Harvard College medical school, was appointed as bac-^ 
 teriologist to the society. The experiments with animals 
 ceased on July 1, 1890, and the laboratory experiments on 
 January 1, 1891. The total cost to the society at that 
 time had been 122,124.12. The results were ultimately 
 published in a report, but the first use made of them was to 
 bring the facts ascertained to the attention of a committee 
 of the Legislature of the year 1891. These facts were con- 
 firmatory of opinions held by many medical men in this 
 country and in Europe, that the germs of tuberculosis are 
 conveyed by the milk of cows into the human system, and 
 retain their vitality, and so cause, in part, prevalent tuber- 
 culosis diseases in the community. Evidence was given to 
 show that the bacillii (germs of the disease) in cows dis- 
 eased, only elsewhere than in the udder, were liable to find 
 their way into the milk product. The legislation desired 
 was not obtained at that session, but the effect has been 
 manifest in a report to the present Legislature, from the- 
 Board of Agriculture, and in other places. 
 
 The various items of expenditure which have been given 
 in the foregoing pages have been intended only to indicate 
 in a general way, the direction of the society's efi'orts at 
 different periods, and the magnitude of certain enterprises 
 undertaken by its trustees or agents, or by others acting 
 for the time under its supervision or patronage. The fig- 
 ures fall far short of the total outlay in the society's 
 field of activity, regarded as a whole, and, in many in- 
 stances, in the particular enterprises. The cost of importa- 
 tions of live stock, for example, has always been enhanced 
 by expenses for keeping, through periods of various length.. 
 Much in printing and distributing circulars and small 
 pamphlets has been done, of which no mention is here 
 made. The total cost of the advertising in newspapers of 
 matters directly concerning farmers' interests, during the- 
 
FOR PEOMOTING AGEICULTURB. 139 
 
 century, could it be ascertained, would be a surprising 
 sum. What has been set forth of a financial character has 
 related almost wholly to the expenditures of the society. 
 In the early history of the society, a considerable revenue 
 was derived from annual fees. This in time, through de- 
 crease of the membership, and by the substitution of a spe- 
 cific admission fee in place of an annual fee, was diminished 
 to a small sum. At the beginning of the civil war, as al- 
 ready stated, the society declined the annual bounty of the 
 State, and ever since, at its own option, it has refrained 
 from making any draft on the State treasury. Certain be- 
 quests and gifts, the more important of which have been 
 mentioned, came to the society from time to time. No 
 money has ever been paid as salary to any of its officers, 
 nor for entertainment of members or guests. Such hospi- 
 talities as have been offered have been at the personal cost 
 of the hosts of the several occasions. The society's finan- 
 cial prosperity has been largely the consequence of a care- 
 ful management of the permanent funds, by restricting the 
 expenditure of the current year to the income of that year ; 
 and a reservation, as circumstances allowed, of a portion of 
 the income, to be added to the permanent funds. 
 
NOTE. 
 
 In the statement on page 54, as to the Freeborn plough, it 
 is intimated that Freeborn was a maker not a designer of 
 ploughs, and his plough is identified with that of Jefferson 
 through the use of the phrase, ''spiral wind.'' Since the 
 manuscript was given to the printer, the writer has seen a 
 New York City advertisement of the year 1819, in which the 
 Freeborn plough is distinctly described as a " cast-iron 
 plough " and of " Wood's patent." This is proof that the 
 Freeborn plough was of the Jeffersonian model. 
 
Officers of the Society, 
 
 1792-1892. 
 
 PRESIDENTS. 
 
 Thomas Russell 
 John Lowell 
 Caleb Strong 
 John Adams 
 Aaron Dexter 
 John Lowell 
 Thomas L. Winthrop 
 John Welles 
 John C. Gray- 
 George W. Lyman 
 Thomas Motley 
 
 1792 to 
 1796 to 
 1802 to 
 1805 to 
 1813 to 
 1823 to 
 1828 to 
 1841 to 
 1846 to 
 1857 to 
 1870 
 
 1796 
 1802 
 1805 
 1813 
 1823 
 1828 
 1841 
 1846 
 1857 
 1870 
 
 FIRST VICE PRESIDENTS. 
 
 John Lowell 
 Moses Gill . 
 Joseph Russell 
 Aaron Dexter 
 Samuel W. Pomeroy 
 Thomas L. Winthrop 
 Israel Thorndike . 
 Peter C. Brooks . 
 John Welles 
 Peter C. Brooks . 
 Daniel Webster 
 Francis C. Lowell 
 William P. Mason 
 George W. Lyman 
 Charles G. Loring 
 Thomas Motley, Jr. 
 David Sears, Jr. 
 Leverett Saftoustall 
 
 1792 to 1796 
 1796 to 1800 
 1800 to 1807 
 1807 to 1813 
 1813 to 1823 
 1823 to 1828 
 
 1828 to 1829 
 
 1829 to 1835 
 1835 to 1841 
 1841 to 1846 
 1846 to 1853 
 1853 to 1855 
 
 1855 to 1856 
 
 1856 to 1857 
 
 1857 to 1860 
 1860 to 1870 
 1870 to 1873 
 1873 
 
142 
 
 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 HONORARY FIRST VICE PRESIDENT. 
 
 Theodore Lyman 1888 
 
 SECOND VICE 
 
 Moses Gill . 
 Joseph liussell 
 Aaron Dexter 
 Theodore Lyman 
 Samuel W. Pomeroy 
 Thomas L. Winthrop 
 Israel Thorndike 
 Thomas H. Perkins 
 John Welles 
 Peter C. Brooks . 
 William Prescott 
 John C. Gray 
 Abbott Lawrence 
 J. C. Warren 
 William P. Mason 
 George W. Lyman 
 Charles G. Loring 
 Kobert C. Winthrop 
 Thomas Motley, Jr. 
 James W. Paige . 
 David Sears, Jr. 
 Amos A. Lawrence 
 Leverett Saltonstall 
 Amos A. Lawrence 
 Theodore Lyman . 
 Henry Saltonstall 
 
 RECORDING 
 
 John Avery, Jr. . 
 Dudley Atkins Tyng 
 John Thornton Kirkland 
 Richard Sullivan 
 Gorham Parsons . 
 John C. Gray 
 
 : PRESIDENTS. 
 
 1792 to 1796 
 
 
 
 1796 to 1800 
 
 
 
 
 1800 to 1807 
 
 
 
 
 1807 to 1809 
 
 
 
 
 1809 to 1813 
 
 
 
 
 1813 to 1823 
 
 
 
 
 1823 to 1828 
 
 
 
 
 1828 to 1829 
 
 
 
 
 1829 to 1835 
 
 
 
 
 1835 to 1841 
 
 
 
 
 1841 to 1844 
 
 
 
 
 1844 to 1845 
 
 
 
 
 1845 to 1850 
 
 
 
 
 1850 to 1853 
 
 
 
 
 1853 to 1855 
 
 
 
 
 1855 to 1856 
 
 
 
 
 1856 to 1857 
 
 
 
 
 ' 1857 to 1859 
 
 
 
 
 1859 to 1860 
 
 
 
 
 1860 to 1866 
 
 
 
 
 1866 to 1870 
 
 
 
 
 . • 1870 to 1871 
 
 
 
 
 1871 to 1873 
 
 
 
 
 1873 to 1875 
 
 
 
 
 1875 to 1888 
 
 
 
 
 1888 
 
 SECRETARIES. 
 
 1792 to 1806 
 
 
 
 
 1806 to 1809 
 
 
 
 
 1809 to 1811 
 
 
 
 
 1811 to 1823 
 
 
 
 
 J.823 to 1833 
 
 
 
 
 1833 to 1839 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 
 
 143 
 
 George W. Lyman 
 Robert C. Winthrop 
 Richard S. Fay 
 Peter C. Brooks, Jr. 
 Edward N. Perkins 
 E. F. Bowditch . 
 Francis H. Appleton 
 
 1853 to 1855 
 
 1855 to 1856 
 
 1856 to 1860 
 1860 to 1871 
 1871- to 1882 
 J 882 to 1892 
 1892 
 
 ASSISTANT RECORDING SECRETARY. 
 
 Benjamin Guild 1818 to 1857 
 
 CORRESPONDING 
 
 Oliver Smith 
 Jonathan Mason, Jr. 
 John Thornton Kirkland 
 Dr. Samuel Parker 
 John Thornton Kirkland 
 John Lowell 
 Richard Sullivan . 
 John Lowell 
 Richard Sullivan . 
 John Heard, Jr. 
 John C. Gray 
 Josiah Quincy, Jr. 
 Charles G. Loring 
 James W. Paige . 
 Richard S. Fay 
 Leverett Saltonstall 
 Benjamin S. Rotch 
 William R. Robeson 
 Charles S. Sargent 
 
 SECRETARIES. 
 
 1792 to 1797 
 
 
 
 1797 to 1798 
 
 
 
 1798 to 1802 
 
 
 
 1802 to 1805 
 
 
 
 1805 to 1806 
 
 . 
 
 
 1806 to 1823 
 
 . 
 
 
 1823 to 1828 
 
 
 , 
 
 1828 to 1830 
 
 
 
 1830 to 1835 
 
 
 
 1835 to 1839 
 
 
 
 1839 to 1844 
 
 
 
 1844 to 1853 
 
 . 
 
 
 1853 to 1855 
 
 
 
 1855 to 1860 
 
 
 
 1860 to 1866 
 
 
 
 1866 to 1871 
 
 
 
 1871 to 1875 
 
 
 
 1875 to 1879 
 
 . 
 
 
 1879 to 
 
 TREASURERS. 
 
 Aaron Dexter 1792 to 1800 
 
 Thomas L. Winthrop 1800 to 1813 
 
 John Prince 1813 to 1827 
 
 John Heard, Jr 1827 to 1835 
 
 Henry Codman 1835 to 1850 
 
144 
 
 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 Thomas Motley, Jr. 
 David Sears, Jr. 
 Theodore Lyman . 
 Henry Saltonstall 
 Jacob C Rogers . 
 
 1850 to 1859 
 1859 to 1866 
 1866 to 1872 
 1872 to 1880 
 1880 to 
 
 LIBRARIAN. 
 
 Francis H. Appleton 
 
 1884 to 
 
 TRUSTEES. 
 
 Thomas Russell 
 John Lowell 
 Moses Gill . 
 John Avery, Jr. 
 Oliver Smith 
 Cotton Tufts 
 Laommi Baldwin 
 James Bowdoin 
 Christopher Gore 
 Charles Vaughan 
 Martin Brimmer 
 Aaron Dexter 
 Samuel Barker 
 Joseph Russell 
 George Cabot 
 John Codman 
 Theodore Lyman 
 Jonathan Mason 
 John Thornton Kirkland 
 Thomas L. Winthrop 
 Fisher Ames 
 John Warren 
 Caleb Strong 
 Christopher Gore . 
 Samuel W% Pomeroy 
 John Adams 
 Dudley Atkins Tyng 
 Josiah Quincy 
 William Emerson 
 
 1792 to 
 1792 to 
 1792 to 
 1792 to 
 1792 to 
 1792 to 
 1792 to 
 1792 to 
 1792 to 
 1792 to 
 
 1792 to 
 
 1793 to 
 1 793 to 
 1796 to 
 1796 to 
 1796 to 
 
 1796 to 
 
 1797 to 
 
 1798 to 
 
 1799 to 
 
 1800 to 
 1800 to 
 1802 to 
 1804 to 
 
 1804 to 
 
 1805 to 
 1805 to 
 
 1805 to 
 
 1806 to 
 
 1796 
 1802 
 1800 
 1806 
 1797 
 1793 
 1796 
 1796 
 1796 
 1799 
 1805 
 1827 
 1804 
 1807 
 1805 
 1809 
 1800 
 1798 
 1811 
 1841 
 1804 
 1810 
 1805 
 1806 
 1823 
 1813 
 1816 
 1809 
 1810 
 
FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 
 
 145 
 
 John Lowell 
 
 
 
 
 
 1806 to 1830 
 
 Ebenezer Preble . 
 
 
 
 
 
 1807 to 1817 
 
 Peter C. Brooks . 
 
 
 
 
 
 1809 to 1846 
 
 Samuel G, Perkins 
 
 
 
 
 
 1809 to 1815 
 
 J. S. Buckminster 
 
 
 
 
 
 1810 to 1811 
 
 John Prince 
 
 
 
 
 
 1810 to 1828 
 
 Richard Sullivan . 
 
 
 
 
 
 1811 to 1835 
 
 Gorham Parsons . 
 
 
 
 
 
 1811 to 1833 
 
 Josiah Quincy 
 
 
 
 
 
 1813 to 1826 
 
 Edward A. Newton ,. 
 
 
 
 
 
 1815 to 1816 
 
 Elias H. Derby 
 
 
 •• 
 
 
 
 1816 to 1841 
 
 Samuel G. Perkins 
 
 
 
 
 
 1816 to 1824 
 
 Nathaniel Ingersol 
 
 
 
 
 
 1817 to 1818 
 
 John Welles 
 
 
 
 
 
 1818 to 1846 
 
 Israel Thorndike . 
 
 
 
 
 
 1823 to 1837 
 
 William Prescott . 
 
 
 
 
 
 1824 to 1844 
 
 Jonathan Amory . 
 
 
 
 
 
 1826 to 1827 
 
 John Heard, Jr. . 
 
 
 
 
 
 1827 to 1839 
 
 John C. Gray 
 
 
 
 
 
 1827 to 1857 
 
 Thomas H. Perkins 
 
 
 
 
 
 1828 to 1829 
 
 James Jackson 
 
 
 
 
 
 1829 to 1831 
 
 Benjamin Gorham 
 
 
 
 
 
 1830 to 1831 
 
 John Lowell 
 
 
 
 
 
 1831 to 1834 
 
 Samuel G. Perkins 
 
 
 
 
 
 1831 to 1832 
 
 John Prince 
 
 
 
 
 
 1832 to 1833 
 
 Daniel Webster 
 
 
 
 
 
 1833 to 1853 
 
 Henry Codman 
 
 
 
 
 
 1833 to 1850 
 
 Josiah Quincy, Jr. 
 
 
 
 
 
 1834 to 1853 
 
 Abbot Lawrence . 
 
 
 
 
 
 1835 to 1850 
 
 Elias Phinney 
 
 
 
 
 
 1837 to 1850 
 
 John C. Warren 
 
 
 
 
 
 1839 to 1853 
 
 Francis C. Lowell 
 
 
 
 
 
 1841 to 1855 
 
 Levi Lincoln 
 
 
 
 
 
 1841 to 1842 
 
 John A. Lowell 
 
 
 
 
 
 1842 to 1844 
 
 David Sears . 
 
 
 
 
 
 1844 to 1850 
 
 \Villiam P. Mason 
 
 
 
 
 
 1844 to 1856 
 
 Daniel P. King . 
 
 
 
 
 
 1846 to 1850 
 
 Thomas Motley 
 
 
 
 
 
 1846 to 1847 
 
 George W. Lyman 
 
 
 
 
 
 1847 to 1870 
 
 Charles G. Loring 
 
 
 
 
 
 1850 to 1860 
 
 Edward Everett . 
 
 
 
 
 
 1850 to 1855 
 
 Thomas Motley, Jr. 
 
 
 
 
 
 1850 
 
146 
 
 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
 
 Eobert C. Winthrop 
 
 
 
 
 
 1850 to 1862 
 
 Samuel Lawrence 
 
 
 
 
 
 1850 to 1858 
 
 James Brown 
 
 
 
 
 
 1853 to 1855 
 
 Josiah Quincy, Jr. 
 
 
 
 
 
 1839 to 1844 
 
 Abbott Lawrence 
 
 
 
 
 
 1844 to 1846 
 
 Elias Phinney 
 
 
 
 
 
 1846 to 1850 
 
 Francis C. Lowell 
 
 
 
 
 
 1850 to 1853 
 
 George Peabody 
 
 
 
 
 
 1853 to 1864 
 
 James W. Paige . 
 
 ' 
 
 
 
 
 1853 to 1867 
 
 Richard S. Fay . 
 
 
 
 
 
 1855 to 1866 
 
 Stephen Salisbury 
 
 
 
 
 
 1855 to 1860 
 
 William S. Lincoln 
 
 
 
 
 
 1855 to 1861 
 
 George T. Bigelow 
 
 
 
 
 
 1856 to 1864 
 
 David Sears, Jr. . 
 
 
 
 
 
 1857 to 1873 
 
 George B. Loring 
 
 
 
 
 
 1858 to 1863 
 
 Peter C. Brooks, Jr. 
 
 
 
 
 
 1860 to 1871 
 
 Martin Brimmer . 
 
 
 
 
 
 1860 to 1868 
 
 William B. Bacon 
 
 
 
 
 
 1861 to 1863 
 
 Leverett Saltonstall 
 
 
 
 
 
 1862 
 
 William G. Prescott 
 
 
 
 
 
 1863 to 1865 
 
 Amos A. Lawrence 
 
 
 
 
 
 1863 to 1875 
 
 Edward N. Perkins 
 
 
 
 
 
 1864 to 1883 
 
 E. E. Andrews 
 
 
 
 
 
 1864 to 1866 
 
 Benjamin S. Rotch 
 
 
 
 
 
 1865 to 1877 
 
 George M. Dexter 
 
 
 
 
 
 1866 to 1873 
 
 Theodore Lyman . 
 
 
 
 
 
 1866 to 1888 
 
 Henry Saltonstall 
 
 
 
 
 
 1867 
 
 John Quincy Adams 
 
 
 
 
 
 1868 to 1869 
 
 William R. Robeson 
 
 
 
 
 
 1869 to 1879 
 
 John G. Gushing 
 
 
 
 
 
 1870 to 1882 
 
 Charles S. Sargent 
 
 
 
 
 
 1871 
 
 Henry S. Russell 
 
 
 
 
 
 1873 
 
 E. F. Bowditch 
 
 
 
 
 
 1873 to 1892 
 
 John Lowell 
 
 
 
 
 
 1875 
 
 John Quincy Adams 
 
 
 
 
 
 1877 to 1887 
 
 Jacob C. Rogers . 
 
 
 
 
 
 1879 
 
 Frederick L. Ames 
 
 
 
 
 
 1882 
 
 Francis H. Appleton 
 
 
 
 
 
 1883 
 
 Augustus Hemenway 
 
 
 
 
 
 1887 
 
 S. Endicott Peabody 
 
 
 
 
 
 1888 
 
 Walter Cutting 
 
 
 . ■ ■ . 
 
 
 1892 
 
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