SECRETARY'S REPORT. 33 



Peihaps there is no agency so effectual towards stimulating farm- 

 ers as this humble one. Practical, common sense men can then 

 educate themselves in almost everything. 



Another step not yet sufficiently noticed, is a small agricultural 

 library in every farmer's home. Almost any man can lay out five 

 dollars for provender for a favorite horse without any difficulty, to 

 ■whom five dollars expended in books would look frightful. Five 

 dollars judiciously expended in books will, if carefully studied, make 

 a learned farmer. Let the farmer purchase Browne's Book of Ma- 

 nures, a Fruit Book ; one on the Diseases of Animals, another on 

 the Breeds of Animals, one on Agricultural Chemistry, the simpler 

 the book, the better. \Yith these books, together with his agricul- 

 tural papers, State and Patent Office Reports, and other matter 

 pertaining to his calling, he will become the high minded, intelli- 

 gent and successful farmer. 



As preliminary to the establishment of agricultural institutions, 

 might be mentioned a course of lectures to farmers, delivered in a 

 plain, simple manner, by a competent»person, in such a way as to 

 induce the formation and support of the farmer's club. As the 

 presence of a few minerals gave Professor Cleveland a stimulus to 

 prosecute successfully his favorite study, so the presentation of the 

 simplest truth, in the form of lectures, will excite many a young 

 farmer to pursue the study and practice of scientific farming. 



It is believed that a work on Agricultural Chemistry more sim- 

 ple in arrangement than most of those now in use would be of util- 

 ity to the great mass of that class of farmers who have within them 

 the spirit of inquiry, but whose early advantages of education have 

 been more limited than are enjoyed at the present day. 



Your committee believe it as necessary for the farmer to be as 

 thorough in his profession as that of any other occupation to ensure 

 complete success. The house carpenter, who becomes complete 

 master of his trade, and knows how to draft his work, is sure of a 

 higher compensation than he who knows nothing but to follow anoth- 

 er. Whether we acknowledge it or not, '• knorolcdge is poiver,''^ 

 and the greater our knowledge of our calling, the greater our influ- 

 ence and command over the minds of others. In other occupations 

 it is presumed that the individual is already acquainted with his 

 subject before he comes before the public ; then why not the farmer ? 

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