144 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



Island cattle, with the rich fat in the milk; and with the same meth- 

 ods he has taken and developed the Cotswald, or the fine Merino 

 sheep, and has determined the size and shape of the lapel that he 

 shall wear; and through long years he has produced these results 

 of magic. 



What did the Creator mean when He made this wonderful heart of 

 ours, but to impress his matchless work upon man. And what is the 

 farmer doing, but becoming, as it were, a sort of assistant creator, 

 to impress at his end the thought — the idea — which he has in hi.s 

 brain. And so we may well magnify our calling; we may w^ell 

 find in it the incentive to our greatest and highest education. 



Now, there is another reason why the adult farmer should be edu- 

 cated, and his calling be a calling of importance; and that is for 

 the reason of the youth in the land. We wonder why the boy leaves 

 the farm. I do not wonder at all. My wonder is that so many stay 

 on the farm, when we hear as much as we do in country communities 

 of the utter hopelessness of the occupation of the farmer. When the 

 boy is led to believe that success on his farm consists in being a little 

 more advanced — that is, in supplying the mental faculties with food 

 a greater number of hours a day, instead of applying more hours to 

 muscular work — that the mastery should be of the mind, and much 

 more than heretfore, then there would be a different tale to tell, 

 and one far more satisfactory. 



Now, if we older adults will not show in our lives an appreciation 

 that brain is as potent in farming as any other occupation in life, 

 we cannot expect these aspiring young fellows to become enthusias- 

 tic and anxious to take hold of an occupation which will bring them 

 the least return on the money and labor invested. After we have 

 worked in this way, we cannot expect them to remain where the 

 results of their efforts do not promise more to them, and they in ad- 

 dition to remain as mere tools in themselves. We must impress as 

 of the first importance a careful study of the fact that, above all the 

 productive callings of the land, farming gives a field for the exercise 

 of the highest brain power. 



I will merely touch upon another reason why the farmer of to-day 

 should apply the highest education to his farming, and that is be- 

 cause he is compelled to from a business standpoint. So long as 

 others did not, it was not necessary for us to apply more brain than 

 it was our pleasure to apply. But what business in life, or where 

 is the business man who is competent, where he does not apply to 

 his business a bright mind as well as muscle; and who now con- 

 siders a farmer is just as competent without the former of these 

 qualifications, if he has the latter? Now, I will not stop to show 

 how this is. Every one of you will think of instances in your own 

 experience showing clearly how important this fact is to each of us. 



