460 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



as in any other known industry. Production has been increased — methods of 

 preventing the exhaustion of the soil and even of increasing its fertility under 

 this increased production have been discovered, implements have been invented 

 ■which largely multiply the force and effectiveness of labor — the standard of 

 comfort has been raised — old prejudices have been dispelled as darkness is 

 driven before the light of approaching day. The farmer finds that he cannot 

 afford to follow a method of culture simply because his father did. There is a 

 demand for knowledge and skill in improving the capabilities of his soil in 

 judging of the adaptation of different soils to the growth of grains, grasses 

 and roots, and also for the improvement of the different kinds of domestic 

 animals, hence in order to succeed the farmer must be an acute observer of 

 nature's laws, and as no one individual can afford to experiment beyond a very 

 limited extent, he must be somewhat conversant with the experiments of others 

 and be able to note the results attained and conditions that secured them. 



Still we sometimes meet with individuals who have a strong prejudice 

 against what they call " book farming,"' but we have never been able to under- 

 stand why books should be detrimental to a farmer, when they are universally 

 acknowledged to be helpful to all other classes of men. 



If you were going to engage a minister, you would not be likely to select one 

 who had never studied theology, and who might boast that he had never read a 

 book relating to those things in which he should be the instructor of his peo- 

 ple. If you required the services of a lawyer you would probably employ some 

 other than one who had never consulted books on law ; and if you or any of 

 your family were sick the quack who was ignorant of all books treating on the 

 science of medicine is not the one whom you would be likely to employ in your 

 eagerness to restore health or save life. In all these cases we want a man who 

 is intelligent at least in the line of his calling because we recognize that such 

 knowledge is essential to j^roficiency. Is it any less essential to the proficiency 

 and success of the farmer tiuit he should be intelligent in his particular line of 

 work? 



We know of no occupation in which a wider range of knowledge can be 

 brought into practical use than in farming. 



If the farmer knows something of veterinary, geology, chemistry, botany, 

 and mechanics, such knowledge will constantly be of great value to him. 

 His methods being more intelligent the results will be more certain, for his 

 methods will bo adopted witli reference to the exigencies he has to meet and the 

 adverse circumstances Avith which he has to contend. 



In the education of our sons for farming we cannot place too great an 

 importance upon thoroughness in the rudimentary branches of an English edu- 

 cation. How much it adds to anyone's influence to be able to communicate 

 ideas clearly and correctly by means of spoken or written language. The 

 farmer who can thus communicate the result of his operations has abundant 

 opportunity to scatter his ideas far and wide through the many agricultural 

 journals, for the benefit of otliers. Thus cultured and e<(uipped, he stands at 

 the head of his profession and shows to all men what an honorable recognition 

 it can be made to command. We can point to such farmers, and would that 

 their number were multiplied an hundred fold. Tliey are an honor to their 

 country and their calling. You do not find them complaining that their land 

 will not pay the cost of cultivation, or anxious to sell out and go west to begin 

 over again on a new and unexhausted soil, where they must endure all the 

 hardships of pioneer life. They are enjoying life's comforts and many of its 

 luxuries where they are, and are content to remain. Educate your sons for 



