SETTLED FACTS IN FARMING. 51 



governed by chance or blind caprice. Tliis feeling belongs 

 to the epoch of the old agriculture : it certainly does not to 

 the new. It crops out in nearly all our farmers' meetings in 

 the way of disputes and controversies ; and these are often 

 so confusing, that beginners in rural occupations retire with 

 minds darkened with doubt, and disturbed by fears. As I 

 have said, this frame of mind is or would be ludicrous, if it 

 did not oppress by a sense of its utter unprofitableness and 

 mischievous tendencies. It is high time that settled points 

 in husbandry were allowed to rest among fixed and adjusted 

 facts, and the time spent in disputations devoted to enlarging 

 the boundaries of knowledge, — pushing the way into the 

 dark regions where explorers have not ventured. 



And now let me stop to inquire as to what are some 

 of the points which the new agriculture requires us to look 

 upon as not open to controversy. The field brought to view 

 by this inquiry is indeed a wide one ; but let us enter it, and 

 see what may be found that aids in answering aptly and for- 

 cibly the question. At the very threshold of this topic I am 

 led to say, it is settled that successful agriculture demands 

 brains, just like all other industrial occupations. The old 

 notion, that any one not an actual fool or dolt could carry 

 on a farm satisfactorily, is certainly incorrect, and the noble 

 vocation of the farmer should no longer be associated with a 

 view so erroneous and degrading. Agriculture never rested 

 on so low a plane as this view implies, — never, not even in 

 the midnight of mediaeval times. The apt, bright Japanese, 

 and the ingenious, patient Chinaman, unprogressed as they 

 are supposed to be, alike repudiate ideas of this nature. Par- 

 ents in those countries, we are told, place their stupid, feeble- 

 minded sons in positions suited to their capabilities, — as 

 burden-bearers, or as workers upon canals or in stone-quarries. 

 To properly cultivate the soil, they rightly assume, requires 

 good judgment, quick perception, ingenuity, and industry. 

 Their methods are crude and laborious ; for they are guided 

 only by experience, not by science ; and yet they manage, in 

 their ways and under their sj^stem, to place before us some 

 excellent examples of high tilth and effective farm manage- 

 ment. 



Any boy graduating at a law school, who would become 

 a briefless lawyer from incapacity, would, on the land, be a 



