SUCCESS ON THE FARM. 11 



stupidness. Oil, no ! Such is the nature of your calling, 

 that it requires the broadest culture and the most varied 

 acquirements. 



In almost every other vocation the man of one idea may 

 succeed, but not so with farming. Why, think for a moment 

 of the elements, the forces, the properties, the influences, the 

 laws, developed and undeveloped, that he must come in con- 

 tact with, and understand, if he would succeed. Take the 

 young farmer out on to his broad acres, and let him look 

 beneath his feet, and contemplate the soil out of which he is 

 to draw his treasures, and ask him to make that his study, 

 until he understands its component parts, its marvellous 

 mysteries, its various needs and adaptation to the different 

 crops he may wish to cultivate ; and how long would it take 

 him ? Then let him attempt to enumerate and analyze and 

 annihilate, if he can, all the countless horde of insects and 

 vermin and reptiles, with their modes of life and propaga- 

 tion, that lie in ambush, waiting to devour the precious seed 

 as soon as it falls from his open hand ; then let him attempt 

 to analyze the influence of light and heat, of wet and dry, 

 upon his varied crops ; then let him look into his barnyard 

 or stalls, and watch his growing herds ; let him attempt to 

 become familiar with the different breeds of cattle, the best 

 adapted to his climate and business, with the best methods of 

 treatment, and feeding that will give him the best results ; 

 then let him look above into the heavens overhead, — and 

 what mysteries meet his gaze, and invite his investigation, 

 from the shifting clouds, the varying winds, and the mellow 

 sunset-tints, to the storms and tornadoes that devastate his 

 fields, and blast his hopes ! How endless the variety of sub- 

 jects that meet him on every side, and challenge his investi- 

 gation ! The successful farmer an ignoramus ! impossible, 

 impossible ! 



But in order to the most varied and thorough cultivation 

 of the man, or the successful investigation of these varied 

 subjects, he must become familiar with the agricultural 

 literature of his times, and, if possible, of all times ; for a 

 farmer without an agricultural library would be like a hoe 

 without a handle, or a rake without a tooth. But the suc- 

 cessful farmer must be more than a reader of books ; he 

 must do more than take the products of other minds and 



V 



