268 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



profitable, her sons and daughters more happy and contented with 

 their lot, we shall have done something towards making our lives 

 a success ; we shall not have lived in vain, and whether onr years 

 be few or many, if wo can so fill them with good deeds that when 

 we are called to lie down to rest beneath the green sods of her 

 quiet valleys, it may be said of us, here lies one who made the 

 world happier and better for having lived in it. We need ask no 

 higher eulogy. 



Mr. XoKTON then read the following paper on 



Improvement of Soils by means of Thorough Cultivation. 



Agriculture is the occupation of by far the larger part of the 

 people of this country ; it is the great interest which overshadows 

 all others. If that is prosperous, all others are prosperous ; if 

 that languishes, all others must languish. Men must eat and be 

 clothed, and the first step from the savage state involves the culti- 

 vation of the soil. Agriculture has made great strides within a 

 few centuries ; it could hardly stand still while all other branches 

 of industry were undergoing so rapid change. Production has in- 

 creased ; the standard of comfort has been raised ; old habits and 

 prejudices are steadily giving away before advancing knowledge ; 

 the farmer is beginning to see the benefits to be derived from judi- 

 cious application of capital in improving the capacities of his soil ; 

 he is no longer content to follow a mode of culture simply because 

 his fiither did so before him ; he studies his soil, ho seeks for 

 information as to the best mode of cultivating it to advantage, and 

 when once obtained is not slow in profiting by it. The question 

 now is, how to raise upon each acre of land the largest quantity of 

 the most valuable product at the smallest cost, and with the least 

 permanent injury to the soil. It is not enough to be able to plant 

 corn or sow grain. The farmer should know the adaptation of 

 soils to the diflerent grains and grasses, and the best rotation 

 of crops ; the nature and food of diflerent plants, and the proper 

 application of manures. 



To insure agricultural prosperity it is not alone the farm that 

 needs cultivation, but the farmer. The end of tillage is not merely 

 to improve cattle or grain but men and women. Not alone to 

 raise largo crops and smooth Shorthorns, but to produce large 

 hearts and noble minds. The truly educated fiirmer may understand 

 but little of the natural sciences, but be maybe rich in obervation ; 



