126 WISCONSIN" AGRICULTUEE. 



tiring assiduity, driving the enterprises, enduring the distrac- 

 tions and balancing the chances of commerce, trade and merch- 

 andize, or delving in the exhaustless mines of science, or trip- 

 ping with winged feet along the glowing pathway of literature, 

 seeking to achieve the conquests of genius, in the toilsome and 

 disheartening labors of the fine arts, or with severest toil of both 

 mind and body, suffering the reverses and struggling to win the 

 prizes of the professions of theology, medicine and law, or what- 

 ever it may be, they are all alike of equal respectability. It is 

 true there are many who follow the business of agriculture) 

 clownish and perhaps vicious, but it is respectfully submitted) 

 that as a class, the farmers of this country, in proportion to their 

 number, have as few such as any other, and these qualities ren- 

 der them as unfit to pursue this business, with advantage, as 

 they would in any other department, and are no more the badge 

 of this calling, than of all the rest. 



But, not only is this occupation, one of dignity and impor- 

 tance in its relations to society, and to the government, and of 

 equal honor with others, it is also, as profitable in the pecuniary 

 sense of that term, (and in this monied age, it scarcely has any 

 other meaning) and it is as certain in its results. After all the 

 necessary labor, care and skill have been bestowed in the pre- 

 paration of the soil, and the judicious selection of the ground, 

 for the prolific seed ; after all has been done that human toil and 

 diligence can do, for the careful nurture of the tender blade, still 

 there is often unavoidable failure and disappointment. 



The late frosts of Spring, or the early frosts of Autumn — too 

 much or too little rain — unseasonable heat or cold, may cut ofl' 

 the hopes of harvest. Insects and worms may devour the ten- 

 der blades, or some strange blight may smite the fields, when 

 the expectations are most cheering, and the well cultured farm 

 be converted into a dismal waste, as if an Egyptian plague had 

 passed over it. These sad an unforseen misfortunes, may fall 

 upon the farmer when he is least prepared to meet them, and he 

 sorely feels the weight of a calamity, by which he loses the pro- 

 duct of his labor, and is driven suddenly to meet expenses of 

 which there is no profit or income. But although he is the im- 



