340 STATE BOAKD OF AGRICULTURE. 



and industrial instruction — theory and practice — shall walk along hand in 

 hand. That was a grand old Jewish law, well worthy of imitation to-day, 

 that required every father to see that his son was taught some handicraft or 

 trade. Were that law now in force among our people, our jails and work- 

 houses would have fewer inmates, and we never need have any fear that the 

 national balance of trade would be on the wrong side. 



I^ut in all your earnest efforts to prepare your sons to be grand and useful 

 men as well as farmers, and at the same time avail yourselves to the utmost of 

 what help there is in them, don't forget the words of the old proverb, "All 

 work and no play make Jack a dull boy." Remember the principle that 

 relaxation and recreation are as necessary to the proper growth and develop- 

 ment of mind and body as sleep itself. But I need not enlarge upon this 

 point; it is pretty generally understood. 



Perhaps the thought will occur to you that the farmer with a family of sons 

 who follows out all these suggestions will have a busy life of it, and so he will. 

 There will not be much time left for him to sow wild oats or even to indulge 

 moderately in many of the so-called pleasures of the world. But I think he 

 may console himself with the reflection that in performing all these life-duties 

 well and manfully in their proper time, he is really laying up a store of 

 delightful ease and comfort for that declining period of life when he may 

 expect to stand in need of something to lean upon. 



And now in closing, I would state, by way of summing up, that the follow- 

 ing conclusions would seem to result from my somewhat rambling discussion : 

 rii'st, That the best education, generally speaking, for farmers' boys, is that 

 which is most thoroughly practical; 2d, That in order to keep your most 

 enterprising and ambitious boys at home on the farm, you must convince them 

 that farming offers equal inducements with any other calling in the way of 

 mental culture, social standing, political influence, pecuniary rewards, and 

 general usefulness, which, I take it, are the several motive objects which 

 usually govern young men in the choice of a career; 3d, To accomplish this 

 you must raise the standard of the agricultural profession till it becomes thor- 

 oughly rational and scientific, which must be done by strenuous individual and 

 combined exertion, and the systematic education of the young; 4th, To fit 

 your sons to properly represent you in the State and nation, and thus enable 

 you to hold your own upon the statute book. You must give them both business 

 and scientific training; for he who has never kept accurate account of his own 

 finances will surely make bad work when he comes to handle those of the 

 public, and he who has only worked by routine, never looking beneath the 

 surface of his chosen profession, will make but a sorry statesman. 



Finally, let me remark that I believe we present the first example in the 

 history of the world of a great nation in which the mass of the population 

 consists of small farmers who own the land they occupy. The down-trodden 

 peoples of the old world are watching us with anxious eyes, and stand ready at 

 any moment to break out into revolution and sweep away the old feudal 

 tenures. If this experiment of ours is a success, our nation is a success, and 

 a new era of liberty and hope for the laboring masses has dawned upon the 

 world. It has been well and truly said here to-day that the prosperity of the 

 farming community is the prosperity of us all; having a profound sense of 

 the truth of this remark, I can but say that I shall feel amply rewarded for 

 this slight effort of mine, if what I have said shall awaken in you a little more 

 enthusiasm in advancing the interests of so noble a calling — a calling 

 which in its very nature tends so largely to preserve that grand spirit of 



