THE PRACTICAL FARMER. 97 



till morning ? Is it merely to be able to hoe, to hold plough 

 or to mow ? The most ignorant day laborer on your farms, can, 

 as a general thing, go through these operations ; for as com- 

 monly understood, they require only a good degree of physical 

 force. 



What then constitutes a good practical farmer, in the fullest 

 and highest sense ? There must be not only physical strength 

 and manual skill in the use of implements, but also the intel- 

 lectual qualities of sound judgment, providence, discretion and 

 solid good sense. Suppose a shoemaker should fail, through 

 neglect or ignorance, to keep his tools in order, and should 

 work with dull knives, with^ which he could do no good work 

 without the expenditure of time and labor which would other- 

 wise be unnecessary, would you call him a good practical shoe- 

 maker. 



If a mechanic should begin work on a job he had undertaken, 

 and neglect to keep an account by which he might see from 

 time to time whether he was gaining or losing by his labor, and 

 as a consequence should lose money and fail, would you call 

 him a good practical mechanic ? 



And how can we put a high estimate on the experience and 

 practice of a man in any business, if at the end of a certain 

 number of years of close application, he has done no more than 

 merely to live without accumulating a provision for his old age ? 

 A newly arrived foreign day laborer can generally do that, with- 

 out an experience of twenty years. 



No ; a man may practice medicine and not be a good practi- 

 cal physician, or he may practice law without being a good 

 practical lawyer. I have known many such myself, and I have 

 no doubt such instances of lawyers or doctors having some 

 practice, without being what could be called good practical men, 

 are within the knowledge of many who hear me. 



And now, looking at the matter in the light of plain, practical 

 common sense, is it not absurd to suppose a man can be a good 

 practical farmer, who can do no more, and who knows no more, 

 than to work like a slave day after day, without bringing the 

 light of intelligence to bear on the toils of the hand ? Without 

 trying to shorten labor, to increase his crops, and at the same 

 time to diminish his expenses ? 



You will see many farmers neglect entirely the preparation 



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