UTILIZATION OF LABOR. 57 



Creator carries on the changes in this physical universe. Not 

 a single force is there now in operation in the earth or air, not 

 a single force or agency has there been, in all geologic time, 

 that man cannot in some way, even now, make minister to his 

 comfort or multiply his power. Every year he enters more 

 fully into this great inheritance. Every year he compels the 

 forces of nature to lighten manual labor. Every year does he 

 gain greater mastery over these unwearied and exhaustless 

 agencies, and thus realize more nearly his likeness to his divine 

 Creator. 



But all this utilization of labor, though everywhere apparent 

 in the mechanic arts, has little bearing upon agriculture, you 

 are ready to say ? It has, indeed, much less than it ought. 

 For when dominion was given to man it was that he might till 

 the earth and subdue it. He will forever eat his bread by the 

 sweat of the face, for agriculture must, from the nature of the 

 case, ever demand long-continued, careful manual labor. And 

 because this is so, every advantage should be seized upon to 

 utilize that labor. Every blow must be made to tell. And to 

 secure this result, ignorance and waste must both be banished 

 from our farms. 



Unfortunately for us, the need of utilizing agricultural labor 

 has never pressed upon, us as a nation. A broad territory, 

 unsurpassed in fertility, and almost boundless in extent, is even 

 now waiting for man to scatter the seed upon it and gather the 

 luxuriant harvests. The great productiveness of the American 

 soil has given a rich return to the rudest forms of husbandry. 

 And when one plantation has been impoverished, an abundance 

 of virgin soil is ever waiting for the plough. The cultivators 

 of the earth have been, like the early miners on the gold-fields, 

 gathering the gold ready quarried in the hand. The corn and 

 wheat and cotton have been taken from the soil without return ; 

 but such drafts are sure to be dishonored in the end. The 

 account with the earth must be kept good as well as that at the 

 banker's. The practice of the agriculturist has too often been, 

 like that of the spendthrift, who ruins his credit in one place 

 and then tries a new sphere of action, leaving unpaid debts in 

 every town. 



The inventor's genius has been brought to the farmer's aid, 

 but the most effective machines are those for sowing seed and 

 8* 



