UNITY OF INTERESTS. 55 



This, if riglitly influenced, may conduce to the highest inter- 

 ests of agriculture and render it a welcome duty to " stick to 

 the homestead." The mind is ever active, and possesses the 

 quality of curiosity to a large extent. It must know the why 

 and wherefore of external objects and their relations, and it 

 receives pleasure in the efi*ort to obtain this knowledge, and 

 the possession but creates a desire to know more and more. 

 New ideas and emotions excite and perpetuate the mind's 

 activity, which is essential to our enjoyment. Nature is 

 boundless ; she is a complete laboratory ; she is full of inform- 

 ation. The sciences applicable to agriculture are the key to 

 unlock and disclose to the inquiring mind her mysteries. My 

 friends, the future prospects of agriculture in this country 

 cannot be misunderstood. The rapid improvements that are 

 being made in the machinery of the farm, show that the mind 

 as well as muscle is actively at work ; that the days of igno- 

 rant toil are fast giving way to the united efforts of the head 

 and hand ; that the prejudices which have surrounded the 

 tillers of tho soil, like mists around the mountain's summit, 

 are being gradually dispelled through the influence of an en- 

 lisrhtened understandino;. The farmer is about to assume his 

 rightful place at the head of our industrial pursuits. The 

 Agricultural College and the Institute of Technology are 

 both established on a firm foundation. Through the instru- 

 mentality of these twin institutions of our Commonwealth, 

 the farmer and mechanic will be raised to a loftier position of 

 dignity and influence, with an enlarged power of blessing, not 

 only themselves, but the world. 



The time is coming when the rudimentary principles of agri- 

 culture and the mechanical arts will be branches of learning 

 to be tausrht in our common schools. The time is not far dis- 

 tant when the living language of Nature, as interpreted by 

 geology, botany and vegetable physiology, will be like " house- 

 hold words " with the farmer, who will then go forth and see 

 how the silent chemistry of nature, like a mighty architect, 

 builds up the gorgeous fabric of the vegetable creation, alike 

 stately, delicate and beautiful, so will the farmer's calling be 

 ennobled and invested with the fascinations of intellectual 

 grace and beauty. 



