3V4 



man of sense when in his cornfield, clothed in patched pants and tow 

 frock, as when he dresses in the best broadcloth. In fact, he takes as 

 much pride in dressing appropriately, as he does in seeing his fields 

 and fence corners freed from brush, briers and noxious weeds. He 

 liberally patronizes schools — his shelves are well filled with useful books 

 and papei-s. Upon questions of political economy, he is about as well 

 posted, as upon questions of domestic economy ; yet to acquaint him- 

 self with the pohtics of the day, he does not neglect the more impor- 

 tant duty of acquiring an accurate knowledge of the theory and prac- 

 tice of correct farming. Such, in brief, is a picture of the thrifty far- 

 mer ; a pictm-e of the unthrifty farmer would be the opposite of this. 



It does not unfrequently happen that farmers of the latter class, by con- 

 tact with thrifty farmers ; by conversation, reading and observation, be- 

 come convinced of the error of their ways; change their whole prac- 

 tice or mode of farming, and after a reasonable probation, are ranked 

 among thrifty and progressive husbandmen. 



Many of you recollect the history of the early settlement of Michi- 

 gan. You will recollect also, that as late as 1839, the great majority 

 of farmers, were, to use a very common expression, " heels over head in 

 debt," to the merchants of the State ; farming was then carried on upon 

 a wild and visionary scale ; immense fields of wheat and oats were poor- 

 ly sown and poorly harvested ; large, unwieldy fields were planted to 

 com — these were poorly tended, and the crop wastefully harvested. 

 Each farmer seemed striving to get in more of every kind of grain than 

 his neighbor, without reference to the mode or manner of getting it in. 

 The wild grass of our wet marshes had usurped the place of clover and 

 timothy ; and in the estimation of our farmers, it possessed nearly all 

 the nutritive qualities of both ; and why ? merely because the former 

 grew spontaneous, and the latter required time, money and labor to 

 grow it. All were desirous of getting rich, yet neglected to use prop- 

 erly the means within their power. They used the soil as if they deem- 

 ed it inexhaustible ; manures for land, if thought of at all, were con- 

 sidered as useless for enriching Michigan soil, as the light of a candle 

 would be to the noonday sun, 



A speculating mania had seized upon our farmers ; wild lands and 

 village lots were bought up eagerly at high prices, with the expectation 

 of reahzing fortunes from them in a short time. In the opinion of 



