300 TRANSACTIONS Or THE 



bandr}^ arc, indeed, sometimes rewarded to a certain extent, but it does 

 not neccssaril}^ follow that ignorance is essential to success. Too many 

 of our farmers liavc practised, if tlicy have not pondered well, upon the 

 sentiment contained in that passage in the Book of the Wisdom of Jesus 

 the son of Sirach : " How can be get wnsdom that holdeth the ])lough, and 

 that glorieth in the goad, that drivcth oxen, and is occupied with their 

 labors, and whose talk is of bullocks?" (Eccles. xxxviii, 25.) 



^he extent of a man's acquirements in agricultural skill may depend 

 verj^ much on his taste and aptness; but the farmer should be familiar 

 with those ordinary laws which affect and penetrate our daily and hourly 

 business and life. He may not be an analytic chemist, but he siiould 

 be familiar with those laws, the observance of which ia indispen- 

 sable to safety and success, and the defiance of which is destruction. 

 Ph3-siology, too, opens a wide field of study for the farmer, for in the 

 observance of its laws depend the life, health, and growth of all animal 

 and vegetable nature. The study of the veterinary art is also well 

 worthy of the farmer's attention. A knowledge of the principles of 

 natural philosophy, as illustrated in mechanics, the laws and uses of 

 the wonderful motive agencies of the age, the best methods of construc- 

 tion and economy of materials, open further ranges of useful inquiry to 

 the farmer. 



Thus the field of research has no boundary. ISTew subjects, each in 

 itself sufficient to engross years, constantly crowd upon the attention. 

 When all human knowledge on the subject has been mastered, the great- 

 est truths remain unknown. Who can determine the elements of a single 

 grain of wheat, and take of those elements and form one single grain 

 that shall germinate and produce its kind? Who can tell the process by 

 which a single flower blooms? Sucb occult mysteries are beyond our 

 comprehension. 



The ideas herewith presented may be considered erroneous by some. 

 They are the writer's own ; nevertheless, it is not pretended that they 

 are oracular by any means. 



