144 BOARD OF A&RICULTURE. [Jan., 



course comes from its different associations. That the plptysique 

 and nerve power of the country child is greater is proved by the 

 death-rate, which, is so much larger in towns than in the open 

 country. I have often been surprised at the contrast of the 

 physique of the two children in my journeys to and from the 

 cities. The young people of the country are larger in frame and 

 muscle than those of the city, but at this period of life the city- 

 reared have gained in nerve power, and the energy and endurance 

 that comes therefrom, while the country -reared seldom gain much 

 beyond the age of sixteen years. This I attribute almost wholly 

 to the difference of food, a trifle to the mental training they 

 receive, and somewhat to the fact that they represent the survival 

 of the fittest, the deficient ones having died in childhood. It was 

 this nerve power that enabled the city-reared soldiers to eclipse in 

 courage, hardihood, and vigor, those reared in the country, as was 

 repeatedly witnessed during the late war. 



There are two advantages that town residents have over the 

 dwellers on the farm. Fu'st, the ease with which personal cleanli- 

 ness is attained, the introduction of hot and cold water to all parts 

 of the house, and the general bath-room, presenting mighty factors 

 that the farm cannot; and on this I need not enlarge, for you 

 must all recognize its importance. And second, in the stimulus 

 and animation that comes from contact with fellowbeings, which 

 gives more keenness and vigor of mind, and life to the individual, 

 qualities that are always appreciated by the physician. I do not 

 mean the strain that comes from the turmoil of business, for that 

 is overwork of the mind — worse than overwork of the body — ^but 

 the social inter-communion that can only be had where there is an 

 aggregation of numbers. The amusements that are offered have 

 a tonic effect upon the mind as powerful as that of iron upon the 

 body. They not only amuse, but they are educational, and all that 

 tends towards that end tends towards a better condition for health. 

 As a class, in city or country, our own land or abroad, the educated 

 ranks are the mo^t free from disease — a fact that speaks volumes. 

 The isolation of farm life prevents a deal of this neighborly 

 interchange, this polishing of the elbows, as it is termed. Amuse- 

 ments are of rare occurrence, and the meeting of neighborhoods 

 infrequent, and thus a habit of non-sociability is formed, which is 

 apt to degenerate by degrees into a condition of melancholy with 



