JPARM EXPERIENCE. 251 



him to go through his processes with any degree of intelli- 

 gence. Circumstances are occurring every day under his 

 hand, which are absolutely inexplicable without the aid of 

 the lights which the science of chemistry sheds upon his path. 

 Geologists folloAv out the science of geology, simply to gratify 

 their own intellectual promptings and desires ; but to the 

 farmer, it is a matter of life and death to know something of 

 the structure of the earth, something of the nature of the 

 rocks. It is impossible for him to understand the composi- 

 tion of soils without a knowledge of this science. And so I 

 might go through the whole range of the sciences. It is ut- 

 terly vain for us to look for a single one of them, the acquisi- 

 tion of which will not put money into the farmer's pocket. 

 It is necessary for him, in order to obtain the maximum of 

 success, to be a perfect encyclopedia, in himself, of all the 

 arts and sciences. But, sir, how has it been heretofore ? If 

 there has been one man more than anotlier profoundly igno- 

 rant of any and all the sciences upon which the prosperity of 

 agriculture depends, it has been the farmer. It is time, sir, 

 t!iat this opprobrium upon the farmer's profession should cease. 

 He should look higher ; he should aim higher ; he should de- 

 sire constantly, every day, to make himself nobler, grander 

 and better than he was the day before. It has been painful 

 to me to hear farmers, men who are really getting their liv- 

 ing from the soil, speak contemptuously, as I have heard them 

 since I came here, of agricultural schools, and all the various 

 means which have been provided for bringing together the 

 lights of agricultural science, so that they might be concen- 

 trated and conveyed directly to the mind of the farmer. 

 That men should be so utterly insensible to the value of these 

 operations as some of you farmers here in Connecticut are, 

 astonishes me, discourages me, and disheartens me ! But, 

 sir, I am thankful to say that I have seen a better and nobler 

 spirit in most of your farmers. That feeling is confined to a 

 few old fogies of the past, who still walk about blindly on the 

 earth, diffusing their darkness all around them, having appar- 

 ently no other object in life than simply to make darkness 

 visible. 



