FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 139 



for business, and he will refer at once to the latest crop reports, — knowing full 

 well that good crops furnish the money to buy from the wholesaler, and the 

 ability to purchase from the retailer. Said Daniel Webster (and he never 

 uttered a truer saying), "Agriculture feeds us. To a great extent it clothes 

 us. Without it Are could not have manufactures, Ave should not have commerce. 

 They all stand together, but they stand like pillars in" a cluster, the largest in 

 the center; and that largest is agriculture." The science of agriculture is but 

 in its infancy. Poorly as it is understood to-day, the average farmer of forty 

 years ago would be Avholly incompetent to take the place of the successful agri- 

 culturist of the present time. The shovel plow, bar-shear bull-plow, uigger 

 hoe, and hand sickle, and the tramping-fioor of Egyptian origin, have given 

 way to steel ploAVS of endless variety, cultivators, reapers, mowers, steam thresh- 

 ing machines, and many others, too numerous to mention. 



More than manufacturers, ayIio count cost of material, labor, transportation, 

 and commissions accurately beforehand, the farmer has to take into the account 

 other contingencies, as frosts, insects, drouths, floods, blights, and storms, 

 before he can even approximate the probable profits of his crops. More than 

 the merchant, whose customers are within a radius of a few miles, whose wants 

 are known and supplied from week to week without failure or loss, compara- 

 tively. The farmer's customers are the whole world nearly ; not only his custom- 

 ers, but his rivals also. The Avheat-groAvers of Russia, England, France, Egypt, 

 Australia, California, and many other countries are raising grain in direct com- 

 petition with each other, and the value of their grain is fixed by the same law, 

 that of supply and demand. The Avool-growers of Australia, South America, 

 Mexico, the European countries, and our own, all grow avooI for the world's 

 market, and the price depends on the amount of old stock on hand, the amount 

 of the new clip, and the probable Avants of the world. These three factors enter 

 into an intelligent understanding of any kind of manufacturing, and as they are 

 studied or neglected, in that proportion does the enterprise prove a failure or 

 success. Farmers are manufacturers of the various kinds of grain, meats, wool, 

 and other A'egetable productions, and are gOA'erned by the same laAvs. If it is 

 important for a manufacturer or merchant to study in detail everything apper- 

 taining to his business in order to be successful, it is equally so for the farmer, 

 and much more difficult, for his customers and his rivals in business are scat- 

 tered throughout the Avide Avorld. 



If it is important for merchants and tradesmen to knoAV what they are 

 receiving for their business and what they are expending, it is equally important 

 for a farmer to knoAV where his money comes from, and for what purpose it is 

 expended. Unless a farmer does this, he cannot tell whether his business is 

 prosperous as it should be or not. Some of his crops may be \'ery profitable, 

 and others raised at a loss continually. An eminent writer says that nine-tenths 

 of the failures in business occur from not keeping proper accounts. They do 

 not knoAV their own business, neither do the public who deal Avith them. 



If it is important for a merchant to deal honorably, uprightly, and Avith strict 

 integrity, it is equally so for a farmer to fulfill aU of his appointments and 

 engagements. Let us, then, striA'e together to elevate our God-given calling. 

 Surely, Avhere so much remains to be done, Ave can accomplish much in the 

 future, judging from the vast strides made in our profession in the past. The 

 time is propitious ; it is the beginning of the year ; the time for good resolves. 

 It is the first of the College series of Institutes. It is the centennial year, — the 

 dawning of a new century in our history ; a marked epoch in our national exist- 



