230 BuincAu of Faiimkks' Institutes. 



My father had do conflict with Dr. Franklin but he taught us 

 boys that 



" He that by the plow would thrive, 

 Himself must always hold and drive," 



and that from early till late without soldiering. If a man is no 

 friend of work he had better not attempt to make farming pay. 

 He may do well enough under a boss, but the farmer who suc- 

 ceeds must not need driving to his work or to be watched to be 

 kept at it. He who succeeds must have ambition enough to work 

 and work hard. Laziness never succeeds — ^except in being lazy. 

 In farming as in every other business it pays to hustle. Farming 

 will not pay if you don't try to make it. 



Farming does not pay to the indifferent farmer. You can gen- 

 erally tell a farmer by his farm. It is easy enough to tell if a man 

 is interested in his work. The farmer that likes to till the soil 

 puts something of his soul as well as his mind and muscle into 

 his toil. He cares for things and takes delight in them. It pays 

 to take good care of the stock. It pays to keep up the fences. It 

 pays to keep the shingles on the roof and the doors on the hinges. 

 Every successful farmer knows that. It doesn't pay to leave the 

 plow in the furrow from December to May. It doesn't pay to 

 leave machinery out in the weather from one end of the year to 

 the other. It pays to keep the trees in bearing condition and the 

 soil fit for a crop. Indifference in regard to these things pre- 

 cludes success. The man who doesn't care, doesn't make farming 

 I)ay. Carelessness costs; pains pay. 



Farming does not pay to the ignorant farmer. The advice 

 one artist gave to a younger one was: 



'' Mix your brains with your paint." Mix your brains with the 

 soil, is no less good counsel to the farmers of to-day. It is more 

 needed to-day than ever. Farming is developing into a scientific 

 process. To-day the more a man knows about farming in all of 

 its branches the better farmer he will be and the better success 

 he will make. Brains are the best fertilizers. The hope of farm- 

 ing is the education of the farmer. Thinking and studying along 

 the line of one's work pays in every line of business. Mind is 

 worth more than muscle. Intelligence enhances the worth of a 

 ditch-digger. Farming is no narrow field for study and experi- 

 ment. Think of the variety of soils and the things one must know 



