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furnished have banished those long and laborious processes of hus- 

 bandry in vogue thirty years ago. Thanks to science, the toilsome 

 old flail which I sv/ung in boyhood is obsolete. The sickle is among 

 the things that were, and the strong horse does the work of the human 

 arm. Thanks to science for those noble achievements which expand 

 the intellect in proportion as they relieve the hand — which weave our 

 fabrics with iron fingers and do our drudgery with muscles of steel. 

 Let these welcome facilities be multiplied until the farmer, with a farm 

 cultivated to its highest perfection, shall still have leisure for wholesome 

 recreation and rest. Let science extend her innumerable conquests over 

 dull matter, and furnish her thousand expedients in the workshop and 

 in the field, to soften the asperities of human toil. Let her treasures 

 continue to flow in the channels of industry, and let all gratefully ac- 

 knowledge the value of her gifts. If it be true, as it undoubtedly is, 

 that science has given to the agriculturist most important and efficient 

 aids, is it not equally true that he should have some antecedent knowl- 

 edge of truths to which ho owes so much ? 



I would have the farmer, then, gain such a knowledge of the princi- 

 ples of science that he can make a safe and successful application of 

 these to the accomplishment of the objects for which he labors. On 

 this point let me not be misunderstood. I am far from believing that 

 mere scholastic acquisition can ever, in the slightest degree, supercede 

 the necessity of actual experience. A novice in the manual operations 

 of the meadow and the field, however well taught in the best theories 

 of the day, would hazard the loss of whatever he invests in attempting 

 to reduce his theories to practice. Many a man who is tired of the 

 hum-drum of city life, goes forth on an enterprise of rural pleasure and 

 profit, arms himself with agricultural books, periodicals, and new-fangled 

 machines, and expects to astonish the world with the amazing results. 

 He dwells in anticipation upon the fancied enjoyments which rusticity 

 affords, and counts in imagination tho hard coin which the proceeds will 

 annually bring. Very likely he has read and dreamed of the poetry 

 of life in a cottage. But all the poetry and sentimentality of his new 

 position vanish when he comes in contact with the plain prose of hard 

 work. He soon discovers, by dear-bought experience, that he has cho- 

 sen a business not suited to his genius, and, with deep disgust at bis 



