No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 663 



(lomaia, if properly guided and controlled, for in them they have 

 strong supporters to lean upon when the evening shadows of life 

 approach and they begin to be afraid of that which is nigh. In this 

 dear old home that memory paints again and agaio for us, we know 

 that the farmer has the best of the fruits of the earth; and from his 

 stores of poultrj-, beef, mutton and pork, he may take his choice 

 before sending the surplus to the markets of the world. 



No occupation or profession is exempt or Immune from the 

 "crank," and we find now and then one among the farmers, men who 

 tell us that there is too much time and money spent on the Farmers' 

 Institutes, State Colleges and the like. They take delight in say- 

 ing, in season and out of season, usually the latter, that more time 

 spent in work would give better results and save the waste of a lot 

 of good money. They love to tell us bow they and their fathers 

 farmed, but utterly fail to see how the conditions have changed dur- 

 ing the last centur}', or the last decade even. New land theo, now 

 old and poor, worn out through their mistakes and neglect. These 

 men bob up serenely at every Farmers' Institute and will be heard, 

 and we listen, as we sadly reflect that death alone will end their 

 chronic grumbling. We all know them, and we know just as well 

 that their homes aod farms prove that they have all the essentials, 

 not for successful farming, but for fault finding, and when one by one 

 they are gathered, still kicking, to their fathers, we heave a sigh of 

 relief, and piously say, ''The Lord's will be done." 



And lastly, to round out our ideal farmer, he must be a dose ob- 

 server, have an eye to see and detect quickly, he must act wisely, 

 must know how to buy and how to sell; must be a wide-awake, up- 

 to-date business man; must shake off the dust and hay-seeds and 

 get into the swim. He must look well to the minute details, for 

 their name is legion, and he must keep an eye on the hired help, not 

 solely that he may make them a source of profit to himself, but to 

 keep them pure and wholesome and encourage and assist them to 

 grow up self respecting, honorable and upright men and women. 



It is just as hard to make a first class thrifty farmer out of a fool, 

 as it is to make a genuine statesman out of a dude. The farm 

 produces neither of these freaks, but is the best place in which 

 to train up and give to the world, the men and women that 

 it needs more than anything else. Cut off the influx of the sweet, 

 true, strong and honest life that flows into the cities of the land for 

 ten years, and there is not a single one from the metropolis down, 

 but that would merit the doom of Sodom and Gomorrah. So let us 

 all do what we can to produce everywhere the ideal farmer. May his 

 tribe increase. 



