168 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



to him with all his other traditions and are retained with equal 

 tenacity. His horses poor, lame and lazy ; his cattle pure native, 

 true types of Jacob's cattle ; his sheep are wild, small and poor, 

 bearing light and poor fleeces ; his swine small, poor and pointed 

 at both ends, pastured perhaps in the garden, front-yard or in the 

 highway, an annoyance to his neighbor day and night ; while his 

 scanty crops stored in their well ventilated receptacles (being 

 dirty and rickety, infested by rats and mice ) all bespeak hi* ideas 

 of scientific farming, blood stock, tight barns and rat proof grana- 

 ries. 



His literary department lacks modern -books, as well as paper 

 and stationery, but is very likely furnished with pipes, tobacco, 

 a pack of cards and perhaps a bottle of whiskey. His children 

 being surrounded by such influences grow up ignorant, awkward, 

 impudent, dissipated and dishonest specimens of humanity. They 

 are strangers to art and science ; they discover no beauty in the 

 works of nature ; they have no love for the useful and beautiful in 

 flower gardens, field crops, or in flocks and herds. Their leisure 

 hours (which are many) are devoted to gossip, vulgarity and 

 croaking, contaminating the whole sphere of their influence. 



We will now turn to Mr. B who is Mr. A's neighbor. He began 

 life with scanty patrimony, save good religious, moral, and intel- 

 lectual and agricultural training. His farm buildings are new, or 

 old ones modernized, with all the convenient fixtures; his orchards 

 are pruned, grafted, vigorous and bearing bountifully ; fences and 

 stone walls indicate taste and thrift ; bars and gates in place and 

 shape. Fields smooth and verdant, covered with luxuriant crops 

 of all kinds. All destructive vermin soon come to grief if they 

 dare to intrude. Pastures producing abundant forage, free from 

 bushes and noxious weeds. Swamps reclaimed and underdrained, 

 yielding splendid crops of grass, grain, fruits and vegetables. 

 Wood-lots cleared of fallen and decaying trees and receiving con- 

 stant, watchful care to protect the young and tender growth. 

 His tool-house is a tight, dry, commodious structure, easy of 

 access ; his farm implements are of the most approved kinds, care- 

 fully stored when not in use. His horses fat, sound and spirited. 

 His cattle ( some improved breed ) are smooth, fat, symmetrical 

 and beautiful of their kind, quietly ruminating either in the com- 

 fortable barn, or rich pastures. His sheep docile, large and fat, 

 bearing heavy fleeces of lustrous wool ; their flesh tempting to an 

 epicure. His swine beautiful types of some of the improved 



