STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 191 



the men who practice it, to a higher platform than the world has 

 yet dreamed of for this class. Agriculture might furnish food if 

 serfs worked the soil. It is men, not things, that w^e are to look 

 at. The plow is somethings but the man who \io\di?,s somehody; he 

 is, or should be, a pillar in this republic; he must be, or our 

 boasted self-government will be as great a curse to our children, 

 as it has been a blessing to us. If we could measure our past 

 progress and mark our present position, let us see how much 

 better the farmer of 1857 is educated than was the farmer of 

 1807. It is an implacable law of humanity that educated mind 

 will tower above uneducated. A business that is done by educa- 

 ted men will always be honored; one that is done by uneducated, 

 despised. You might as well personate ^olus and blow against 

 the north wind, as oppose this law. First of all then, let us ask, 

 how the farmers of the present day are educated, as compared 

 with those of fifty years ago ? Knowledge is power, whoever 

 possesses it. There are other questions which throw light on 

 this subject; what sort of houses do the present race of farmers 

 inhabit, compared with those of their father's '? Do shade trees, 

 beautiful shrubs and fragrant flowers surround their dwellings % 

 Is the grounds along their front so guarded that you can approach 

 them on a moonless evening, without being pitched heels over 

 head? Do they cultivate a large garden so as to make it at once 

 productive and beautiful, and that without a waste of time on 

 such trivial details as the farmer cannot afford 1 A tasteful garden 

 prettily enclosed, and giving some luxury for every day in tlie 

 year, is one of the surest marks of good judgment, of higli refine- 

 ment, and we will add, of common sense and of thrift. How is 

 it with their barns 1 Are they better in appearance, more labor- 

 saving, more preservative of the fertilizers, more comfort-giving 

 to animals and to the men who care for them, than were to be 

 found w lien the present century dawned upon us ? Are they 

 approachable without wading, or perchance swimming through 

 something else than pure water 1 In short are they so constructed 

 and so managed, that every ton of food expended in them will 

 give just a])()Ut twice the return in animal growth and ])roduct, 

 and manure, that the same amount gave our forefathers 1 Some 

 of them are, beyond a doubt; and this is a great stride in farm- 

 ing improvement. 



