SECRETARY'S REPORT. 39 



It has already been remarked, that in order to insure success, 

 the farmer should be able to determine with certainty what prod- 

 uct will command tfm highest price relatively to the cost at 

 which he can produce the same and put it into market. It is 

 equally necessary that he ascertain by what means the cost of 

 production can be reduced to the lowest point, in order to increase 

 the net profits. To do this, we must question science, and apply 

 her teachings to practice. The art of agriculture is as old as 

 Adam,'^ but as such, it has not yet, and can never attain a high 

 •degree of perfection until it is pursued by the light which sci- 

 ence affords, or can be made to afford. 



To understand the practice of agriculture thoroughly, that is, 

 to know hoio to work, to plough, to hoe, to plant, to dig, &c., is 

 exceedingly desirable, and by no means to be dispensed with; 

 but to know exactly i^j/iy each is to be done, so as to apply labor 

 to the best possible advantage, is a much greater accomplish- 

 ment. By scientific agriculture is understood, practice based 

 <Dn such knowledge — nothing more and nothing less ; but to un- 

 derstand fully the why and the wherefore of everything to be 

 done on a farm, is to know a, great deal. Without the aid of 

 chemistry and geology we cannot know the character and capa- 

 bilities of soils, nor without that of physiology, can we under- 

 stand the requirements of plants and animals, so as to secure 

 (their most perfect development; and so on through the whole 

 list. Agricultural science is, therefore, an exceedingly broad 

 .and comprehensive terra, embracing so much of the various 

 sciences as have a bearing on its practice. 



The opinion is sometimes expressed, that education is more 

 necessary for other pursuits than for that of agriculture; as an 



*It has often been said tliat agriculture was the divinely appointed employment of man in Par- 

 adise, which is probably an error. Before the fall, earth yielded spontaneously and abundantly 

 all which man needed, — he Jiad but to pluck and eat. Man lived in communion with and enjoy- 

 anent of the Creator. To furnish the exercise needful to tbe most perfect development of intellect- 

 tial and physical strength, he was directed "to dress and to keep" the garden. Horticulture, 

 ■therefore, rather than agriculture, and in its most delightfal aspect, too, was his occupation. After 

 the fall, man being estranged from his Alaker, and those powers of mind before occupied in the 

 study and enjoyment of Infinite Good, being depraved, it was necessary for his recovery that he 

 t)e placed under entirely different circumstances; and/ur Aw«a4e, thatis, for his good, as an indis- 

 pensable check to his depravity, he was compelled to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow — in 

 the pursuit of agriculture — by wresting from the now unwilling earth, the means of sustenance. 

 There is a deal of truth in the nursery rhyme: 



"For Satan finds some mischief still, for idle hands to do," 

 and in the histor;' .of Sodom , do we see the development of "fulloess of bread and abundance of 

 idleness." 



