FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 205 



a matter for "which the farmers are deserving of congratulation. With these 

 introductory thoughts before us, is not the farmer's duty a subject deserving 

 our most careful and attentive consideration? 



In the first place, then, let us consider the farmer's duty to himself as a man 

 of business. 



From the statistics presented, we have seen that the farmers, as a class, 

 possess great importance both numerically and by reason of their aggregated 

 wealth. Should they not possess an equal amount of knowledge and skill, and 

 be thoroughly conversant with every detail of their business? 



The banker, when he first engages in that pursuit, does not rent a building, 

 put in his vaults, display Avhat little money he may possess, and then expect 

 that men will entrust their deposits and collections with him. These cannot be 

 the sum total of his stock in trade. He must be a man who is recognized as 

 possessing such knowledge of the rules and forms of business as to perform his 

 work correctly, and thus beget confidence. The more perfect his knowledge of 

 all the intricate questions involved in money, commerce, and exchange, the 

 greater will be the reliance placed upon his judgment, and his prosperity is 

 more fully asured. Just so it is with the lawyer, the judge, the statesman, the 

 manufacturer, or any other business man. The same rule is verified in the his- 

 tory of the most successful, wealthy, and respected farmers. Some have been 

 so unwise as to claim that education of the higher grade does not better agricul- 

 ture. President White, of Cornell University, hits the nail squarely on the 

 head in speaking of this very point: ''If this be true," he says, then is agricul- 

 ture the only industrial pursuit unworthy of a human being ; for this assertion 

 would not be made against any other branch of human industry." The 

 Professor then, in referring the student to Herbert Sj)encer's Tables of Progress 

 in his Comparative Sociology, adds, that there you will ''see that skill in 

 observation and reasoning on observation have been steadily improving agricul- 

 ture, at the same time that they have improved other industries." 



Our farming would be better if there were greater consecration to the work. 

 It is too often simply a means to an end, — and that end is to get sufficient 

 means to engage in some other business and then leave the farm. The profes- 

 sion of farming ought to descend from father to son. It is the concentration 

 of the powers of mind and will upon one's profession that makes the man suc- 

 cessful. The chances for success would be greatly enhanced if our young men 

 would stick to the farm, adding to the knowledge I'cceived from the parent 

 that which would come by additional study and experience. By this means 

 respect for the jirofession and the wealth of the country would be increased, 

 because we should have qualified farmers instead of new and inexperienced and 

 unskilled workmen. Every profession is burdened with the men who rush in 

 thinking they can make more money and attain greater success than in the 

 profession they left. But they lose sight of the fact that the successful men 

 are those Avho liave given years of study and practice, and sufi'ered many incon- 

 veniences before they attained a position Avhere real success was possible. The 

 young men should not leave the farms, but add to the knowledge, gained in 

 youth, greater skill and wisdom, which shall make them eminently successful 

 in the pursuit in which they were brought up. In the end they will find them- 

 selves much more highly respected and honored. 



It is a most untruthful saying that "such and such a mail is only fit to be a 

 farmer." Now I will not tickle the farmers' ears by telling them that they are 

 not responsible for this saying. The farmers of the past and present are to 



