Litchfield enquirer., 1870-10-06


 in 1903, an association for improvement 1T
 agriculture was established in New Haven
 and though the Connecticut State Board
 of Agriculture was not instituted unti
 1866, it has done yeoman service, and it
 fourth annual report for the current yeal
 will compare favorably with that of any
 issued by other States, enriched as it is by
 the lectures of scientific men, and the dis
 cussions of leading farmers on the sub
 jects vital to the progress of husbandry
 I trust the Board is not dead, but only
 sleepeth, and that the next General As
 sembly will atone for the error of the last
 by resuscitating an institution so essentia
 to the welfare of the State. The late Dr, Gold of West Cornwall, and his son, the
 accomplished Secretary of the State Board,
 were far-sighted enough to add agriculture to the studies of his School in West Corn wall, and if at all our schools, especially in the rural districts, something of less im- portance were omitted, and the simple leading principles and facts applicable to scientific agriculture, were substituted in their place, our young men and women would grow up with knowledge of na- tures laws, which underlie the proper cul- tivation of the soil; and the pursuits of ag- riculture. instead of being dreary, unin- telligent and unproftable, would be the very reverse.
 Tables prepared by the United States Commissioner of Agriculture, exhibiting the comparative results of the labor and expense bestowed upon one acre of land in the different States, taking the average of the whole amount cultivated, and of the prices of the crops. place Connecticut ahead of every other State in the Union excepting Nevada, the total average cash value of her land in 1869, being $29 34cts., Massachusetts ranking next, and the far Western States ranging from SIS to $15. Agriculture on the supposed sterile soil of New England is thus shown to be more re- munerative, acre by acre, than on the fat lands of the West, or the once rich fields of the Middle and States, owing in part, it is true, to the nearness of markets for our productions, the great manufacturing cen- tres in our midst, and the outlying cities requiring all we can raise; but also owing to the more skillful and careful industry of the Eastern farmer, whose necessities have compelled him to take advantage of every circumstance that can aid him in his pro. gress. These results foreshadow the fu- ture. When Western land, as it inevitably will, becomes dear by pre-occupation, it will cease to invite emigrants as at present, and when densely populated and farmed in the rude manner it now is, will be far inferior to our springy hills. we'll drained, ows, which, under the hands of scientific cultivators, will surpass all others in capa- city for production, and the tide will turn towards the rising sun again. New Eng land is not to be left out in the cold in any way. She is bound to be agricultural, as we'll as mechanical and commercial, and her progress in the one pursuit should be as great as in the others. What we ask, is, that the same early education be given to the young farmer that is given to him who chooses professional, mechanical, or mer- cantile pursuits-education in bis o,On line. Wedont ask for theoretical education, merely, but that the kindred sciences, un- derlying the science of agriculture, may be taught in our schools, that every, State may possess at least one academy or college at which. not only the theory, but the prac- tice of the higher class of farming. may be taught, so that the farmer may not be in- debted for every improvement in farm ma chinery, for every new method of cultiva- tion, for all instruction in the analyzation of soils and mixing of manures, to the mechanic, the chemist, and the theorist outside of his calling. By making his bu- siness intelligent, as we'll as profitable, we shall not only retain the youths now on the farm, but attract others from less mo- ble pursuits. Our farming population would possess more stability of character, the old homesteads would not pass into the hands of strangers, nor the old family ties be sundered.
 Let not the farmers then be satisfied with seeing the resources of the County and of the State lavished upon the higher seats of learning alone, but demand from the common treasure of the Common wealth those necessary institutions which shall promote their own particular call ing. The farmers hold the power of the State by their numbers. It is for them only to ask, to obtain. They should de. sire nothing exclusively to their own ad. vantage, but demand an equal participa- ton in those common benefits. Litchfield is name renowned in the annals of learn. ing. The prototype of your beautiful vil- lage, in England, was noted for its school founded by Edward VI., where Addison, Ashmole, Johnson and Garrick were edu. eaked and iks n nasaka has haooroa ,,y 1a,s