FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 199 



amount of cxponiliiuro, are but the luiswers given to the hind and to labor; 

 and, as ^ve shall be obliged to confine our views to the American farmer, a 

 brief consideration of that he cultivates becomes necessary. Less than four 

 hundred years have elapsed since the eye of civilization first discovered, and 

 its foot pressed the Continent that should become the liomc of the millions 

 who now occupy it, and who in that portion of it called ''Our Country" 

 now number about forty-seven millions, and will in twenty years numljer 

 approximately seventy or seventy-five millions of people. The hand that 

 planted the standard and unfurled the banner of Spain on tlie newly-discov- 

 ered continent, also planted by its side the banner of "The Cross," the high- 

 est type of her civilization. In view of the discouragements met and overcome 

 by the grand old man, as he laid his tlieory of "Land to the AVestward," 

 before kings and men of science — it being regarded by them as the dream of a 

 visionary enthusiast — it can scarcely be a matter of doubt at this day, that He 

 who made the sea and dry land had designed this continent to become the 

 nursery and abode of the highest civilization and culture. 



The new land became the abode of a hardy, self-reliant, frugal, and edu- 

 cated people, the most of whom became workers of the soil, and at the same 

 time owners of the laud they occupied. 



In England, a farmer is defined to be a "tenant, a lessee, one who hires 

 and cultivates a farm, a cultivator of leased ground." In the United States 

 he is defined as "one who cultivates a farm, a husbandman, whether a tenant 

 or the proprietor." The land system of the United States is so unlike that of 

 Europe, that the name of farmer in America is suggestively associated with 

 the idea of the ownership of land. At an early period the Government made 

 wise legislative provision, that enabled the poor and industrious man to possess 

 and own a sub-division of public land not less than forty acres, for the small 

 sum of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, as a general rule. This sys- 

 tem stimulated the ambition of the laborer to become the owner of a parcel of 

 land from the public domain ; to make it his home, to work it, and make it a 

 part of the study and enjoyment of his life. Each of these added new homes, 

 and established from time to time the outposts of advancing civilization; and 

 they became the picket guards on the frontier, limited by their own title. 



The farmers and those who till land constitute a large majority of the peo- 

 ple of this country. Those who own land are happy in its possession ; those 

 who do not now own land expect and hope soon to do so. 



The glory of the farmer is, that in the divisions of labor in a civilized state, 

 it is his part to cj'eale or j^yodiice ; on his primitive activity all trade rests for 

 success. He is associated with land, and with its cultivation. From it he ob- 

 tains the bread and meat and clothing. The food and raiment which was not 

 he causes to be. The first man was a farmer ; and, according to sacred history, 

 his profession was assigned him by his Creator as the highest and best of occu- 

 pations. It is true it was decreed that he should earn and eat his bread in the 

 sweat of his face. As men do not like hard work, it was not an easy edict ; 

 but as all men have an exceptional respect for tillage, and as it makes man 

 stand closer to nature, all historic nobility has been made to rest on the own- 

 ership and cultivation of land. The charms of the farm are daily incentives 

 to work. 



The farmer, therefore, can boast of being a member of the oldest profession. 

 That all other trades rest upon it for success. That it retains all its ancient 

 charms, as standing nearest to the Creator, the first cause. He can joyously 



