mass of farmers; and, even now, men of the largest experience are not
the chief contributors.

Wherever a local club exists, it is always possible to compare the
knowledge of the different members; and the results of such comparison
may, when deemed desirable, be laid before the public at large. It is
also in the power of such an organization thoroughly and at once to test
any given experiment. The attention of this section of the country has
been directed to the culture of the Chinese sugar-cane; and merchants,
economists, and statesmen, as well as the farmers themselves, are
interested in the speedy and satisfactory solution of so important an
industrial problem. Had the attention of a few local societies in
different parts of New England been directed to the culture, with
special reference to its feasibility and profitableness, a definite
result might have been reached the present year. The growth of flax,
both in the means of cultivation and in economy, is a subject of great
importance. Many other crops might also be named, concerning which
opposite, not to say vague, opinions prevail. The local societies may
make these trials through the agency of individual members better than
they can be made by county and state societies, and better than they can
usually be made upon model or experimental farms. It will often happen
upon experimental farms that the circumstances do not correspond to the
condition of things among the farmers. The combined practical wisdom of
such associations must be very great; and I have but to refer to the
published minutes of the proceedings of the Concord Club to justify this
statement in its broadest sense. The meetings of such a club have all
the characteristics of a school of the highest order. Each member is at
the same time a teacher and a pupil. The meeting is to the farmer what
the court-room is to the lawyer, the hospital to the physician, and the
legislative assembly to the statesman.

Moot courts alone will not make skilful lawyers; the manikin is but an
indifferent teacher of anatomy; and we may safely say that no statesman
was ever made so by books, schools, and street discussions, without
actual experience in some department of government.

It is, of course, to be expected that an agricultural college would have
the means of making experiments; but each experiment could be made only
under a single set of circumstances, while the agency of local
societies, in connection with o