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But coming nearer home, let us at least pay one grateful tribute 

 to the lifelong and earnest work of such men as Prof. A. H. Worth- 

 en, our state geologist; Dr. John A. AVarder, but lately deceased, the 

 noted horticulturist of Ohio; and to T. J. Burrill, of our state uni- 

 versity. We and our children shall ever hold their memory dear. 



As the great mass of our population must grapple Avith nature 

 in their daily labor, let them fully understand this same wonderful 

 science. The machinist, carpenter, engineer, and mason must have 

 a practical knowledge of natural philosophy; the florist a full and 

 complete understanding of botany. The stockraiser must fully un- 

 derstand the wonders of natural history and philosophy, while the 

 successful farmer of the future must and can most easily understand 

 them all from the advantage of daily observation. In addition to 

 these he must understand the chemistry and the nature of soils. 

 The soil he tills needs to be fed, nourished and sustained as carefully 

 and systematically as the living animals around him. This is a long 

 subject, just now needing much careful attention, but a subject with- 

 in itself. There is much for the farmer to learn, but the task is not 

 one of painful magnitude. The sons and daughters of our poorest 

 farmers can, in a few terms well spent in our common country schools 

 learn the fundamental principles on which all natural science is 

 based, at the same time bearing in mind " that there is no excellence 

 without great labor." My young student of nature, you have all of 

 these grand discoveries as a foundation on which to build; go on 

 concjuering and to conquer; bend every energy in the pursuit of the 

 life which you have chosen, and the result will most amply repay 

 you. 



My farmer friends, let us educate our children in this beautiful 

 science of nature, unrolled as a magnificent picture to our astonished 

 vision. It is so grand a thing and so easily accomiilished. Carefully 

 explain to a child of ten years the manner in which a fly walks on 

 the ceiling, how a mosquito is produced, or the manner in which any 

 of our common plants grow, and my word for it. they will retain it 

 longer than the works of fiction or the idle story. It is only a few 

 years since man first knew that' he had a stomach, except from the 

 simple act of putting food into it, or even understood the circulation 

 of his own blood. These assertions may seem somewhat strange and 

 startling to those unacquainted with the natural sciences, but they 

 are matters of alisolute and undisputed fact. Any school boy or girl 

 who has studied them will readily explain them to you, and the man- 

 ner in which the careful student of nature has searched them out 

 and made them plain to all. 



In conclusion I would say what I have already implied: The 

 farmer, to be successful, happy, and content, must be accomplished 

 in the science of nature, so far as he can, from a careful study of the 

 few necessary books, and then practically apply this knowledge to 

 that bounteous nature which surrounds you, and untold pleasure and 



