No. 6. DEPARTMENT CF AGRICULTURE. 343 



ADVANTACJES TO THE FAKMEli OF DIVEKSIFIKI) KXOWl. 



EDGE. 



»Y \V. J. UEMAI.Y, Mooirstoivn, Pa. 



READ AT MOORESTOWN INSTITUTE, NORTHAMPTON CO., JAN. 7, 1901. 



One of the most serious questions to-dav, in my estimation, is 

 how to si)end time? Or in other words, how to make the best use 

 of time? It was all right centuries ago, when men became twice as 

 old as now with no competition or hardly any, to take things by 

 chance, or let luck come their way; but that time has passed. The 

 man who is one of the ''go-easies" in our day will stay a "never-get- 

 ihere." It is no more the man with the strongest back, the stoutest 

 tendons and the greatest strength that comes out as a victor in the 

 race. The cry is no more for only physically strong men, but first, 

 for men of mental strength. The cry of the soil is not so much for 

 simple farmers as it is for educated ones. The day has passed when 

 the only requirements for a successful farmer were a little knowledge 

 of how to hold a plow, or operate a currycomb, with enough schooling 

 to be able to read the dates in the calendar or add on the fingers. 



The farmer, or what we should rightly call the agriculturist, needs 

 brains, practical knowledge, science, yea every farmer should be a 

 university graduate in our day. He should be equipped with a 

 knowledge equal to, and even surpassing that of the professional 

 man or specialist. He should know what? Well it would be good 

 if he would be a mathematician, well acquainted with the higher 

 mathematics. He should be a linguist, well versed in the modern 

 and ancient languages. He should be a botanist, a geologist, a 

 chemist, an astronomer, be well versed in philosophy; have a good 

 commercial education; have a fair knowledge of civil engineering; 

 have a knowledge of law; in a nutshell, a farmer should be the best 

 and widest educated man of any class of people on God's green 

 earth. 



You undoubtedly think that I am trying to till you with a lot of 

 stuff which is not worth a red copper to you. On account of the 

 limited time for each speaker, I will not be able to prove the fore- 

 going, or make it clear enough to fully understand perhaps, but I will 

 try and set you to thinking at least if possible. 



In the first place, you farmers and farmers' wives think not that 

 you are too old, and that your opportunity has passed by; neither 

 |J)lnlv tli^t jQyi cnm^t afforcj it, or do not ]i^Yd tbe time i» JQ^v <>I4 



