WHAT THE FARM TEACHES. 23 



gather from tliem other products also, — lessons for the wise 

 discharge of your duties as citizens of a beautiful county, a 

 beloved commonwealth, a glorious country. 



Our experience on the farm teaches us, 



1st, That the farm will not take care of itself. It matters 

 little how rich the soil, how excellent the methods of tilling, 

 what improved ploughs and mowers and reapers may be 

 used, the intelligent farmer knows that he must have an eye 

 to every department of farm-work : he must be informed 

 respecting the adaptation of crop to soil and of fertilizer to 

 both, he must have an intelligent judgment respecting the 

 probable result of this or that investment, if he wotld be 

 successful in his work. Too many farmers travel in the 

 ruts : they plant as and ichere their fathers planted ; they 

 look upon a horizon no broader than that upon which their 

 fathers looked. The wide-awake farmer studies the needs of 

 his farm. He avails himself of the experience of others. 

 He does not sneer at progress in agriculture, but welcomes 

 every suggestion that shall enable him to make the most of 

 what he has. Added to this, is an active, personal interest 

 in the work that every day brings, — an interest quickened 

 and intensified by the thought that the farm is a mine, ready 

 to yield its treasures to the thoughtful, careful, and earnest 

 labor of him who works it. But there must be thought and 

 care and labor ; and hence we learn that the farm will not 

 take care of itself. 



We learn from the farm, 



2d, To retain faithful and tried servants. These servants 

 are much more numerous than we at first thought suppose. 

 Every tool and implement used in cultivating and harvest- 

 ing is in an important sense a servant, aiding the farmer in 

 carrying out his plans. It is to the excellence and efficiency 

 of these servants that much of the progress in agriculture 

 has been due ; and new improvements in agricultural imple- 

 ments may be looked for in the future, rendering them still 

 more efficient executors of the farmer's will. You learn to 

 look with more than ordinary interest upon these servants, 

 and you dignify them with the epithet " very good." This, 

 you say, is a very good plough ; that, a very good mower. 

 Besides these, there are the living servants, upon whom the 

 farmer is so constantly dependent, all contributing their part 



