342 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



livelihood, by the application of capital, there is none in which a 

 large and varied stock of accurate knowledge is not only desira- 

 ble, but so absolute necessary for obtaining the greatest returns, 

 as in farming." " Of the various occupations and professions 

 which have engaged the attention of mankind, there is not one 

 which seems so permanently useful, so honorable ; in short, so 

 compatible with all our interests, as the cultivation of the earth ; 

 and none which calls for so diversified and general knowledge." 



As a science, agriculture has no limits. It not only deals 

 with soils, but with all that pertains to animal and vegetable 

 life. To make agricultural labor popular, it must be associated 

 with the highest degree of intelligence and the widest attain- 

 ments in knowledge. There must be more employment of 

 thought and less of muscular labor. "We must promptly seize 

 upon any new and useful mechanical improvement, by which 

 labor will be lightened or made more effective. Every such 

 improvement will increase the leisure of the farmer, and his 

 ability, also, to supply his personal wants. "Knowledge is 

 power," and the more extensive our attainments, the more 

 easily shall we continue to acquire. The object of the farmer 

 should be to increase the production and improve the qualities 

 of animal and vegetable life, and to add thereby to the amount 

 of his comforts and enjoyments. And this can best b° accom- 

 plished by the acquisition of knowledge, which will give him 

 greater power in his special employment, and, at the same time, 

 a better position and more influence in society. 



Agriculturists are the most numerous class in the community. 

 Let them frown upon those who look upon labor as degrading. 

 Let their influence be made to have its due weight in legislation, 

 until their labor shall receive its proper reward. When agri- 

 culture shall be regarded as an intellectual employment, when 

 its labor shall bo as fully rewarded, and its invested capital 

 yield as large returns as any other occupation, then will not 

 only youth cherish a love of rural life, and age an attachment 

 to the soil, but vigorous manhood, also, will find delight in the 

 comforts and pleasures of a farmer's home. To encourage 

 habits of industry in children, with particular reference to agri- 

 cultural employments, will have a strong tendency to make 

 them desire those employments. By allowing them the pro- 

 duction or care of something which they may call their own, 



