THE FARMER'S ERRORS. 349 



never plant one acre better. There is no hope for him ; there 

 is a small hope for his children, if you can arouse their pride, 

 and awaken nature's strong impulse to imitate. And this is 

 one of the benefits of agricultural shows. No matter what the 

 inducement, so that it brings out the boys and girls that might 

 otherwise be hiding in the weeds, or huddling in the chimney 

 corner, and here teaching them that this fair earth was not 

 created only to grow Canada thistles, white daisies and muUen 

 stalks. 



Nothing but ocular demonstration will serve to convince 

 some men that their system of farming is not the best on earth, 

 or that any larger crops, or better products, can be obtained than 

 such as they have always grown. They are full of errors, but 

 not willing to come up here and openly confess them. It will 

 be a hard task to convince men that they can surely grow more 

 produce upon one acre than they now grow upon two. Yet it is 

 nevertheless a most certain fact ; and 1 have no doubt that there 

 are a few now listening to me who are saying to themselves at 

 this moment, "as true as I live I will try." So do: there is no 

 other way to improve. Go and try. I address this adjuration, 

 go and try, to the young framers ; for, so far as my experience 

 teaches me, the New England States are full of men and farms 

 that have scarcely taken one single step in the onward progress 

 of agricultural improvement. Ih fact, the old farm has barely 

 supported its occupants, by their hard toil, for a century, without 

 making any provision for the increase of the family, who are 

 consequently compelled to go away into a strange country, look- 

 ing after new lands, instead of looking a foot below the surface 

 of the fields at home. It is a fact, too, that such looking after 

 new soil under that which has become exhausted is looked upon 

 by the .old men as a wild, foolish notion of the boys. Those 

 who would improve either in tools or modes of tillage are dis- 

 couraged by that ready answer of, — " Oh, nonsense! don't tell 

 me about farming. I know as much as any man living about 

 it; and as for your new-fangled ploughs and things, I don't 

 believe a word of them. Mine are good enough for me." 



If you planted one acre less, and all your acres better, you 

 could have better products from the whole. It is not altogether 

 in the seed, though none but good seed should be used ; it is 

 the soil and manner of cultivation that produce good crops. 



