Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1876-02-16
state Board Of Agriculture.
MErrING AT cHELsEA.

quite small-mostly farmers connected with the
grange Of that place.
The first thing on the programme was entitled,
"words at the Start" by Ezra Walker, who said
he was glad to welcome the farmers to the meet
ing. lie felt that they had come TO get iniorma-
ton on subject Of vital importance to the inter
ests Of the community at large, and that they
should all feel at liberty TO make enquiries, and
express their views on the subjects which would
be presented in the course of the meeting lie
thought farmers as a class, did not pay the atten-
ton to the science Of agriculture that they should
that they were great readers, but their reading
was on other subjects The long winter evenings
went by with hardly thought Of the farm.
This want Of care and thought was to be lamented.
But few, he said, ever take note Of their expendi-
lures, or any inventory Of their possessions and
therefore could not tell whether they were gain
ing or losing Indications Of prosperity were ev-
erywhere wanting; buildings were poor, fences
gone TO ruin, and in many cases the farms were
heavily mortgaged This want Of thrift had at
tracted the attention of the legislature and to
remedy this state of things it had caused to he or
ganzed the Board Of Agriculture, which, made up
Of practical farmers and men Of science, was com
missi6ned to go into various parts Of the state, to
look to the interests OF tho farming community,
hunt up the successful farmers, and get an cx-
preston Of their views.
| c. W CLARKE Of Chelsea, was next called upon,
aud said that his subject on the programme was
Scattorings" but that he should talk Of home
matters. Some extracts from his address are
made below:
"The leading industrial interest of our own ma
ton, the youngest Of all the substantial nations
on the face Of the earth, is agriculture. Here
first appears the ter Of the soil, a grown-up
man, the owner Of the acres he tills and of the
products Of his labor. The substantial wealth Of
the nation is in its farms and their products the
herds and nocks Of the East aud Southwest the
wheat and corn OF the West the cotton, sugar and
rice which the South has produced and may again
produce II properly dealt with-and these all come
| by the hand Of the planter The man Of agricul-
| ture is the chief man Ia our nation In the last
quarter Of a century his calling has become a
science and an art, taught in the boasting
its special institutions scattered the land and
Just now is being tested the question whether our
farmers will welcome and improve the opportuni-
ties lately afforded by the government, and our
young men respond to the invitation to secure a
high agricultural education propose to discourse
concerning such education.
All education must be addressed to man
mind, but there is nothing about him that is not
susceptible of education. Ills mind may be
trained TO think, his body be taught to labor, and
both repay all the educational means which can
be expended upon them. Whatever man ha.
achieved in this world has always and everywhere
been accomplished either by his large head or hi.
stawar body; has been wrought out either by
the thought Of his mind or the labor OF his muscl,
and muscle acts Away, in subsection to mind
Unfortunately, the owners OF both Of these great
moving powers are not always the same Tn,
thinking head has FOR the most part gone upon
other shoulders than those doomed to ply sica
labor
." In ages gone by physical labor has been found
almost always toiling under the direction Of au
thority At command 1t cultivated the soil pro
duced the implements and wonders OF the work
shop, plowed the ocean, wrought the mine A
the kings command were the pyramids piled up
the palace and the temple erected, and the mar
vicious catacoinbs scooped out. So authority
, came TO be a despot and labor n slave. The mar
of mountaineering was high and unapproacha
BILE bodily labor was degraded, while bodily labo
at the same time furnishing that high dignit,
with the means that made with him the breath o
life possible Not great while ago it got into tn
heads Of some of our Congressman that it nigh
possibly be safe to allow the working body to b
guided by its own head that an informed min
presiding over well-developed muscle would max
upa safe partnership and an agreeable companion
4, ship-the one to devise, and the other to e1ecut
. what would make out the common good Thi
statement may seem, perhaps, more sarcastic tha
4 -
gravest problems Of the age.
"What insist upon is, that in the pursuits o
, agriculture our minds may be safely introduced t
our bodies, and relations OF friendship and mu
: tual intercourse proftably established Tina
there is original necessity that all the living
> ergies Of one person shall be expended on hi
brain to produce the power OF thought and al
+ those Of another on his muscle 10 develop tn
e power OF labor That the acquisition of know
: edge, and the power Of thinking growing out Of il
\ although lofty and mighty power, are within tn
reach in this day of every tiler Of the soil and W
should account neither duty performed, nor de,
tiny accomplished, until their attainment. In tn
. last half century, the farmer has made pre-
/ digious drafts on science. In every step Of hi
progress he has leaned on her arms And he ma
make his business more or less great study. a
he will take pains to hunt out In the paths d
science what concerns him.
, /" lie will learn from geology the composition G
= the rocks which have furnished, and are daily add
ing to the soil he tills their rich contributions b
, the means of rain, the snow, the frosts, and tn
lightnings Of heaven. From hydraulics, the law
of fluids in motion, with view to irrigation an
drainage, and valuable lessons from botany, phys
Ia1,. If,b