:20G STATE ROAKD OF AGRICULTUKE. 



It would iKirJly be in the line of wlnit I wish to speak of to-night to point out 

 the very many ways in which you may make your occupation as farmers more 

 attractive and prolitablo, but the men wlio think will have no trouble in finding 

 a suflicient number of them in the line of invention or experiment. God has 

 given us both body and mind, and the varied pursuits of life are designed to 

 give exercise to both. No pursuit affords better opportunity for the harmoni- 

 ous exercise of all our powers than agriculture intelligently pursued, — which 

 fact seems to declare it the best adapted for the human race, as it is of neces- 

 sity the one in which the largest number will be engaged. Honor it by an 

 intelligent culture, relieve its burdens by mental application, invention and 

 experiment. Keep it fully abreast of other occupations in the great race of 

 progress by readily responding to the demand for improvement in every depart- 

 ment of your work, and the brightest, most ambitious and talented boy in your 

 household will take up the line of progress, and cheerfully employ his strength 

 of body and powers of mind in carrying it forward. 



The idea so generally prevalent among farmers themselves and so generally 

 acted upon, that a liberal education is not necessary for a farmer, operates as 

 an element of discouragement to farmers' boys, making them discontented 

 with farm life. 



Boys often think more and see farther than we give them credit for. They 

 are not very old when they begin to look around, institute comparisons and 

 get their own ideas about different classes of men. Perhaps they have an 

 uncle, their father's brother whom their grandfather sent to college when he 

 was a boy, and their father stayed at home and inherited the farm. Some- 

 times they go to visit their uncle and cousins in the city. There is an atmos- 

 phere of refinement and elegance about their home that is perfectly enchanting 

 to the country boys. Their cousins are able to tell them of vacations spent in 

 travel, and of the many interesting places they have visited, and things they 

 have seen. Their own quiet life in the country seems tame and commonplace 

 in comparison. 



Your thoughtful intelligent boy looks a little further, to see what men are 

 filling the most important public positions, and he discovers that although farm- 

 ing represents almost as much capital and has nearly as many persons engaged 

 in its pursuit as all the other occupations put together, he discovers that the 

 control of public affairs is largely in the hands of men who represent some 

 other pursuit than that of farming. From the cabinet and U. S. Senate, 

 down through the wide range of civil service appointments. State and county 

 offices, there is nothing more conspicuous than the absence of any consid- 

 erable number of leading and controlling minds from among the men who 

 cultivate the soil. 



Now, I know of no class of men who should be more willing to look this 

 state of facts in the face with a fixed determination to find the true cause of 

 it, with a view to discover and apply the remedy, than our well-to-do farmers, 

 whose sons are soon to inherit, let us hope, not only their farms but also their 

 energy, industry, and steady habits. 



As a class farmers are me"n of pretty good judgment, and they are likely to 

 put forward and support for the high positions of trust and responsibility the men 

 that they consider the best qualified to fill these positions without regard to 

 their occupation in life, and what they have practically been confessing all 

 along is that their interests and the interests of the country can be best pro- 

 moted by men of other occupations. We have in this country no class, who on 

 the assumption of aristocracy, can arrogate to themselves the power to govern ; 



