No. 6 DEPAKTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 336 



successful ill l('jj;al prnctico, and know what his services are reallj 

 worth to his client. The physician must likewise gather the ac- 

 cumulated experience of the past in his efforts to keep the human 

 family from goinj? to that ''bourne from whence no traveler returns." 

 The minister, also, with an eye single for the good things of this 

 earth, must be prepared to tell the old, old story in a manner pleas- 

 ing and effective, if he would have the world to stop, keep awake and 

 listen to his message. A college education seems almost necessary 

 in order to become eminently successful in these three professions. 



But what of the man that feeds them all. Does he need any 

 special preparation for his life-work? Is he confronted by the intri- 

 cate problems shared by those engaged in other vocations? If so, 

 then, as in other lines of business, the man is the most Important 

 factor. Success in any line of agriculture is measured largely by 

 the accumulated experience of the farmer. Agricultural science com- 

 pared with that of other lines, is yet very meagre and incomplete. 

 Scientific investigations are solving some of the problems that 

 trouble the agriculturist, but the conditions are so different in the 

 various localities, that every farm must needs be an experiment 

 station. -In other words, every farmer must put thought enough 

 into his business to understand his conditions, and adapt himself to 

 the circumstances, carefully choosing a special line of farm opera- 

 tions naturally adapted to his taste and environment. By so doing 

 he gets more enjoyment out of his earthly span, larger profits for his 

 labor, and helps dignify and ennoble the greatest productive in- 

 dustry in the world. 



Occasionally we hear uncomplimentary remarks concerning the 

 business of agriculture. A low estimate is put upon the farmer's 

 vocation, because it does not afford advantages for improvement, 

 that it lacks in affording means for the development of thought; 

 that studying agriculture and burying a talent are synonymous. 



Strange, indeed, that such a mistaken idea should find momentary 

 existence. Such characters are better prepared to dream with Rip 

 Van Winkle than to sleep the sleep of the just. Many instances 

 prove the contrary. The development of that wonderful machine, 

 the dairy cow, should satisfy the most critical, to say nothing of 

 that massive product, the beef animal. That spirited thorough- 

 bred and ponderous draft horse are also products of care and selec- 

 tion. The history of the pumpkin seed, beginning with a very insig- 

 nificant specimen, no larger than an ordinary cucumber, and ending 

 with the old "Yellow Pumpkin," and its relative, exhibited at the 

 fair, produces evidence of thought and labor. 



Modern husbandry requires the hardest kind of thinking. From 

 one common centre, the soil, radiates many different lines, each in 

 itfifelf difficult enough for the brisrhtest mind. To restore the former 



