132 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jail., 



Physiology and hygiene teach us that perfect health, robust and 

 vigorous, can only be obtained, and maintained, through the 

 instrumentality of nourishing foods, pure air, bright sunlight, and 

 long periods of undisturbed and refreshing sleep, together with 

 suitable mental and physical exercise, living in accordance with 

 nature, and not with the dictates of fashion, for an artificial 

 existence. "Where and in what avocation can these conditions be 

 so completely carried out as upon the farm? for here is raised the 

 major portion of the foods that support human race, and the 

 production of them compels the tiller of the soil to pass the work- 

 ing hours of the day in the pure air and invigorating sunshine, 

 exercising his muscles by carrying out the dictates of a previously 

 exercised mind.* The work of the farm compels no labor during 

 the hours of the night, hence sleep, "nature's sweet restorer," need 

 not be interfered with. The farm, then, possessing all the 

 requisites for health, should give us the strongest, soundest, and 

 most vigorous and long-lived class in the community; and, judging 

 by conditions, by a priori reasoning, the farmer should be a model 

 of manly health, and beauty, tall, and sinewy by reason of air, 

 food, and exercise, deep-chested, and full-blooded. His frame 

 should be an illustration of physical perfection, disclaiming all 

 knowledge of disease, and his face a fitting crown therefor, made 

 perfect by thoughtful and intelligent observation, study, and 

 reasoning. To this class should the artist look for his example of 

 a Hercules, or an Adonis, and not to the prize ring and circus. 

 To repeat,- the conditions for this physical perfection, the means 

 that lead to it, are in greater perfection on the farm than in the 

 office, store, or work shop. But, we ask the question, is the dweller 

 on the farm the most healthy of the race? Alas, no. The 

 doctor's gig and tired horse are too often seen at the farm-house 

 door. The patent-medicine man makes his regular rounds, and 

 the agricultural journals have every available space occupied with 

 advertisements of a multitude of nostrums, showing that there is 

 a demand for them, while a glance at the farmer's face tells the 

 story of his sufferings from disease. 



I entertain the belief that the conditions of health or illness are 

 mainly within the control of every individual, if he has the 

 knowledge necessary to so govern it, excepting some few heredi- 

 tary taints for which he may thank some ignorant ancestor. But 

 even these he can greatly modify, and that farm life should give a 



