306 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



elevate the farmer than cau be done in any other way. Some system by which 

 the farmers can receive and obtain a thorough and practical education in his 

 relation to agriculture is what the farmers most need. There is no branch of 

 industry that would receive more benefit from education than farming; I do 

 not mean that kind of college education which teaches students that manual 

 labor is degrading and dishonorable. I mean that kind of education which 

 teaches our sons and daughters that the labor which is necessary to be 

 performed in tilling the soil to produce agricultural products is the most hon- 

 orable and desirable. The farmer should be so educated that he will under- 

 stand the chemical composition of the soil he cultivates ; the different prop- 

 erties it contains, and what ingredients the soil should contain to produce the 

 different kinds of grain. Education should assist the farmer to perform the 

 work necessary to be done with more economy and less labor. The more edu- 

 cation the farmer can get the better, if it does not make him feel that the 

 more he has the better he can live without labor. He wants to feel that edu- 

 cation is necessary to fit him to more intelligently and successfully perform 

 labor. 



It requires practical knowledge and experience to be successful in draining 

 land ; this can be had by reading and studying different authors on drainage, by 

 association and cooperation, by a general interchange of thoughts and ideas, 

 and by practical experience. 



I am satisfied, and in fact it is universally conceded by those who have had 

 experience, that money invested in draining land will return a larger per cent 

 than any other investment. I wish to impress more deeply upon the minds of 

 the farmers the importance of a thorough system of drainage and thorough 

 and deep cultivation of their lands, and that lands, well drained and 

 thoroughly pulverized, become warm and fit to receive the seed quicker 

 than where water stands until it evaporates, and will retain that heat and 

 warmth better; and also retains a sufficient amount of moisture for the growth 

 of vegetation much longer than cold, wet land where the moisture is removed 

 by evaporation. 



With the limited time 1 have, even if I had the ability, I could not do 

 justice to this subject. If I have presented a few crude thoughts that will 

 bring out discussion and assist the farmer in bettering his condition, my pur- 

 pose will be accomplished. 



THE FAKMER HIS OWN MECHANIC. 



BY E. D. A. TEUE. 

 [Read at Armada Institute.] 



In savage and uncivilized countries, or in civilized regions, when the people 

 are poor and money scarce, as in the early history of ourovvn country, orinthe 

 back-woods at the present time, each man does for himself nearly every kind 

 of work, and division of labor is almost unknown. But when the resources of 

 a country have been developed, as they are among us, a different state of things 

 prevails with advantage to all. I shall not discuss the division of labor ques- 

 tion — you are all acquainted with its merits. But why, in this age of advance- 



