EDUCATION AND AGRICULTURE. 77 



finally, if successful, you will find him in a suburban town, 

 where agriculture may receive some benefit from his amuse- 

 ment. 



But we must not count all lost, and charge it to education, 

 that leaves the farm for other occupations. The inventive 

 genius that left the farm, sends back a machine that with a 

 horse liberates half a dozen to study, invent and travel. 

 The enijine of the mechanic and a few tons of coal, give 

 leisure to a hundred to find out what the earth is made of 

 and what may be made of it. The farm can spare men for 

 the clay-pit, if they send back a load of drain-tile. These 

 will unlock a new storehouse of fertility, improve the climate, 

 beautify the landscape, and bring health and happiness. 



Machinery and horses take the place of men, oxen become 

 obsolete, and old articles of machinery become curiosities. 

 Yet who would take away the improvements and put back 

 the men? Nothing is more evident than that our agriculture 

 is undergoing a great change, and many indications seem to 

 shoAV that its importance is declining. 



Population is at a stand-still or actually decreasing in re- 

 mote districts, and concentrating upon the coast and near to 

 large commercial or manufacturing towns. 



The border settler in New England twenty years ago, is 

 close to the forest now. Half-made clearings are again grow- 

 ing up, and log-cabins are tenantless. Hills once covered 

 w^itli sheep are moss-grown, and the sons of their first owners 

 are making shoes, or working the mines of the Sierra Nevada. 

 While we must acknowledf]re that somethino; is the matter 

 with our agriculture, it is probably not so serious as it ap- 

 pears, and can hardly be charged to the account of our limited 

 means of education. Our situation will account for much of 

 the mischief. We live where the rule is "Much labor and 

 small profit" to h'm who stands next to nature. Coal and 

 iron are close at hand. "Wood and timber, suitable for some 

 kind of manufacturing, are found in every section, and 

 every stream turns a mill. These advantages invite the 

 genius and activity of the people. Almost adjacent to his 

 own, lies one of the world's few choice gardens, wh.ere 

 lands have been free to him who would occupy them. Rail- 

 roads have followed the pioneer, and travelling is easy and 



