Siskiyou County Agricultural Society. 683 



opinions and convictions to render available the practical knowledge in 

 the possession of many. 



It cannot be successfully controverted that, all other conditions being 

 equal, the enterprising, industrious man, who reads and reflects, and 

 seeks to inform himself concerning the principles and practices of the 

 pursuit in which he is engaged, will be enabled to make greater progress, 

 and render it more attractive and profitable, than one who plods along 

 in an old routine, contented in his ignorance, and making no effort 

 toward improvement. 



Whatever stimulates thought, other things being equal, induces thrift. 

 An unthinking farmer cannot be prosperous, because without thought 

 there can be no method, and without method there can be no success on 

 the farm. Beading suggests subjects of thought, and this, added to the 

 practical skill of the farmer, often produces valuable results. It is only 

 the uneducated and those who do not read, that decry agricultural 

 journals and agricultural works, and, of course, are ignorant of what 

 they condemn. Their judgment in the matter is worth nothing, because 

 it does not rest upon competent knowledge. A farmer is often success- 

 ful though he may not read, but it does not follow that he does not 

 think. Such an one might have been still more successful had his 

 horizon of thought been enlarged by a systematic course of reading. 

 Every man feels instinctively that the greater the amount of knowledge 

 that he can bring to bear on his business, the greater will be his suc- 

 cess, provided the same exertion is used in the one case as in the other. 

 It is absurd to say that it is a disadvantage to one's business to learn 

 all he can about his business; and yet there are some persons who main- 

 tain that reading about farming is of no profit, though these same per- 

 sons will often ask and follow the advice of competent farmers in their 

 neighborhood; in other words, according to them, the advice is good if 

 conveyed orally, but if communicated on printed pages it is worthless. 



As the light of knowledge advances, the clouds of ignorance, error, 

 and prejudice are dispelled, and science, with its ever-widening and 

 ever-varying horizon, throws forth light upon every department of 

 human industry, and, most of all, upon the business of agriculture. 

 Within the past forty years it has advanced from an ignoble art to a 

 dignified science, and farmers should know and feel and appreciate, 

 that in all these movements it magnifies their calling, elevates them 

 socially, and advances their material prosperity. The greatest enemy 

 to the farmer is the farmer himself. Were he to show an eagerness 

 and anxiety for the elevation of his vocation, it Avould rank with any 

 and all other professions, for no occupation is so well calculated to 

 keep in equilibrium all the powers of the mind and body. It calls forth 

 the most varied qualities: patience, care, and diligence; zeal, industry, 

 and economy; tact and skill to direct and manage — no faculty of the 

 intellect or power of muscle or feeling of the heart, but what is 

 brought into requisition by the successful farmer. 



Deep science and pliant art must unite in him. He must not only 

 know how to direct, but he must know how to execute. Let them train 

 and prepare themselves by increased knowledge for the brilliant future 

 that lies open before them, and take the position which it was intended 

 for them to occupy. 



Agriculture is the foundation of all the arts of civilization, the sup- 

 port of commerce, the groundwork of national wealth, the prop and 

 stay and substratum of public morals and national strength. It implies 



