364 FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 



been broken down, and men have dared to investigate — dared to theorize,, 

 even in the face of ridicule and derision. Agricultural and industrial schools 

 have been built up. Agricultural societies have been organized — all educa- 

 tional in their tendency and purpose. Books and papers in the interest of 

 farming have been scattered broadcast over the lancl. Law in a thousand 

 ways encourages improvements in the methods of tilling the soil, science now 

 begins to illuminate the way, and lends its best appliances, its best brains, 

 in the study of the principles which underlie a progressive and successful 

 agriculture. 



The work was slow at first. Here and there some crank of a farmer began 

 the study of the chemical properties of the soil he tilled — its wants and how 

 he could supply them. Another, more crazy still, commenced the study of 

 the laws of " plant life," their wants, and how they could be supplied. And 

 others still the laws of " animal life" and development, selection, feeding 

 and breeding — all of them parts of the same great work; a study of 

 " Nature's laws" in the interest of a better and a higher civilization. 



One of the first and most significant of all the innovations that have taken 

 place in the chain of agricultural improvements was the practice of sowing 

 grass seed, which, strange as it may seem to some of us, is but little more 

 than a hundred years old. To-day the direct products of grass and hay 

 outrank in value any other products of the soil by many millions. 



BAKEWELL. 



The way had now been prepared for raising, feeding and keeping the- 

 domestic animals in quantities sufficient for all the uses of man, without dan- 

 ger of losses from starvation in winter, and Bakewell and a few others began 

 their work of investigation and improvement. And unlike many others 

 whose inventions have added largely to the prosperity and happiness of man- 

 kind, they lived to reap some of the fruits of their labor. Bakewell sold 

 single animals for twelve hundred pounds sterling ($5,800). Farmers began 

 to open their eyes, there was money in it as well as science. The change was 

 far more rapid thau anyone could have reasonably anticipated. And within 

 the last half century the results of their study and experiments have been 

 scattered far and near — to almost every people and every land where modern- 

 light has been allowed to penetrate. 



This brief reference to historical facts and figures points out the suscepti- 

 bility of our domestic animals to improvement, teaching a lesson that farm- 

 ers should not be slow to heed. With us the time has now come when the 

 crude methods of farming, unavoidable while clearing the forest and build- 

 ing the farm, must of necessity give way to more thorough systems of farm 

 managoment. While the lumber interests and markets have practically dis- 

 appeared and the home markets are relatively decreasing, the surplus pro^ 

 duction that must necessarily find some outside market, has been rapidly 

 increasing. And while railroad freights and transportation must neces- 

 sarily come out of the price of our products, more beef, more pork, more 

 mutton and wool means less freights. It means also increased fertility 

 of the farm. The force of the old maxim, "No cattle, no manure; no 

 manure, no corn ; no corn, no cattle," can never wear out with onr system 

 of farming. Stock, with mixed husbandry, are indispensable. They must 

 be raised in large and increasing quantities. 



