THE FARMER'S ERRORS. 351 



stubborn opinion, better than any that have come into use since 

 those old apple trees were planted. The man that will not buy 

 farming tools of the best kind, and adopt all well-attested im- 

 provements, is more stubborn than the man that would not be- 

 lieve any man had seen taller corn than he grew. Have you 

 any such wilful stubbornness in this community ? 



You cannot afford to grow poor corn, any more than you can 

 afford to keep a poor horse, poor oxen or a poor cow. Is there 

 a man in this assembly — I know there is not a woman — that 

 docs not know that keeping a poor cow is poor economy ? If 

 a man has such a one, he is very anxioue to shift her off upon 

 some one else. You would not trust a merchant that was half 

 as improvident as half the farmers. He does not let half his ' 

 capital lie idle. You do, for only half of your land is produc- 

 tive. You cannot afford to grow weeds ; yet you do. Look at 

 the growth upon your stubble fields. What if every one of 

 those worthless, bitter weeds was a stalk of sweet clover ? It 

 might just as well have been if you had manured the land and 

 sowed the seed. Don't tell me that the land is too poor to pro- 

 duce a growth of clover or grass ; if you do, I shall tell you that 

 you are too poor a farmer to own it. You can't afford to grow 

 only fifteen bushels of corn to the acre, when without any in- 

 crease of labor, and for an expenditure of six or seven dollars, 

 you could grow seventy-five bushels ; and instead of the wilder- 

 ness of weeds that usually grow among the corn stalks, you 

 could grow a vakiable crop of turnips. 



You cannot afford to use poor tools, because with good ones 

 you can double your crop. You cannot afford to keep poor 

 aninxals of any kind. A poor brute of a swine that will only 

 fatten to one hundred and fifty pounds, will have consumed more 

 food than one of the improved breed, that will make the same 

 amount of pork at half the age. Yet there are ten of these 

 worthless animals in the country to one good one. Look at the 

 beautiful, improved stock exhibited at fairs every year, and tlien 

 ask why you do not all have such. How can you afford to keep 

 the poor ones ? 



There is no known limit to improvements that may be made 

 in agriculture. The only difficulty in the way is a wilful, 

 stubborn disbelief. We arc too apt to be contented with the 

 same meagre crops that have been produced so long that we 



