52 . MAINE STATE SOCIETY. 



in matters that were once deemed abstruse, who does not know 

 tlie connection between agriculture and chemistry, or the de- 

 pendence of the former on practical science and scientific for- 

 mulas. So that now, to speak of the " intellectual wants of 

 farmers," is not, as it was once, an almost paradoxical associa- 

 tion of terms, but a fitting question for every intelligent mind. 



The grandest feature of our whole political economy is, that 

 tli^ simplest inhabitant is not only a citizen, but a legislator 

 and a lawgiver, so that he wields by his own mind and his own 

 franchise, an influence ove^ those who, otherwise, might never 

 come into his own immediate sphere. The mere interchanges 

 of trade would possibly continue, though neither party knew 

 aught of governmental policies, but the stability of our national 

 existence depends on the political intelligence of the masses. 

 Hence the farmer, no less than the merchant or professional 

 man, is called upon oftentimes to superintend, if not indeed to 

 dictate measures of great practical utility; to decide by his 

 own individual action what shall or shall not be the future de- 

 portment of his country at home or abroad; and upon his vote, 

 it is not too much to assert, (the present, if not) the whole 

 future character of the government may possibly depend. 

 Therefore it will be plain, it seems, that the farmer should 

 possess a general knowledge of history from the earliest ages 

 downward to this " last and best result of time ;" should be 

 able to discern what one cause or aggregate of causes had sub- 

 verted the nicest speculations of political philosophers ; should 

 know under what circumstances peculiar policies have had their 

 origin, and by wl>at means they have culminated or failed. And 

 though this, to a casual observer, may seem an undue requisi- 

 tion, yet upon reflection it must be patent to all, that no loyal 

 citizen of a free country should be without such information, 

 just as no true representative citizen who has become prominent 

 in the respect and reliance of his neighbors is without it. But 

 as these arc intellectual wants which pertain fully as much to 

 any and every other class of men, I pass to those which are 

 more peculiarly the " wants of farmers." And they may be 

 generically considered as containing that information which the 

 proper and productive culture of the land demands. 



In the early history of an agricultural country, the simple 



