MISCELLA^-^EOUS PAPEKS. 413 



turer who has been thoroughly skilled iu the principles or handicraft of his 

 calling, his success is almost certain. He frequently improves the quality of 

 the article he fabricates by some new combination of materials used, or by 

 improvements in machinery employed to do the work by whicli he is enabled to 

 produce a better article at the same cost, or one equal to the average at a much 

 cheaper rate. So with the professional man ; he must spend some years in pre- 

 paratory studies to fit him for the study of his profession, and then, after years 

 of patient effort, he is fortunate if he attain to such a rank in his profession as 

 will insure him a business that will give him at the close of life a moderate for- 

 tune. What reason then is there to suppose that your calling is an exception to 

 all otliers, and that you can be really successful agriculturists without intelli- 

 gence, mental discipline, and training? Ought not the farmer to be able to 

 understand and become thoroughly acquainted with the elements that compose 

 the soil which make up his fields before he can intelligently judge what he can 

 properly demand of them? Must he not know what crop in perfection they are 

 the best calculated to produce, and when they are deficient in any qualities how 

 they can be most cheaply supplied, and the best method of applying them? 

 Should he not be able intelligently to understand that tliere is a necessary con- 

 nection between the quantity and quality of food they require and should receive 

 in order to be able to meet his expectation of a large yield and of good quality? 

 In short, he ought to know that it is absurd to suppose his land will perform 

 well unless he feeds it well. Might he not Just as well expect his teams to be 

 strong and vigorous, and do a good season's work on poor, insufficient, and 

 unpalatable food, as to ex^^ect his lands to produce well without supplying the 

 soil with the materials requisite for a full and perfect development of the crop 

 to be raised? Can he expect to overtax his lands, to starve them out without 

 having them become exhausted, barren, and unproductive? Ought lie not fur- 

 ther to know that when they once become poor and exhausted the expenses 

 attending their recuperation into a good thrifty productive condition are more 

 than threefold the advantages he apparently gets from having overtaxed and 

 underfed them? iV 9-1 



On this subject I speak from experience, for when I bought my farm in Ray 

 it would not raise anything but mulleins and mortgages, and the mullein crop 

 was not anything to brag of. By dint of thorough cultivation and energy my 

 boys now are not afraid to compare crops with their neighbors. Compensation 

 is the law of nature, and mother earth demands its fulfillment as much as men 

 and other animals that feed upon her bounty. If you want your hired help to 

 do well, feed them well and pay them liberal wages. Do not expect that mush 

 and milk instead of good, substantial food, and niggardly wages are going to 

 give them a very deep interest iu your success, or that their labor will be very 

 remunerative to you. Paul was right when he said, ''Milk for babes, but 

 strong meat for men." I am aware that there is a class of men living upon 

 farms who are not accustomed to scrutinize the different characters of soil so 

 as to adopt the mode of cultivation most likely to produce success, and who pay 

 little or no attention to the proper rotation of crops, or the best method of 

 keeping up and replenishing their lands. They follow along in the old beaten 

 track of their ancestors, and if they are poorly remunerated for their labor, — 

 as they surely will be, — they are apt to attribute their failure to anything but 

 the true cause ; they are apt to get discouraged, think farming is a poor busi- 

 ness, sell out, and move into some city or village, put their little means into 

 some business that they are not acquainted with, and in a few years find them- 



