468 State Board of Agriculture, &c. 



We farmers may be low and groveling in our habits, 

 rough and boorish in our manners, thoughtless and weak, 

 intellectually narrow, superstitious, and bigoted in our 

 views, dwarfed and defornred in our physical develop- 

 ment, we may drag out a miserable, slavish existence ; but, 

 if so, it will not be the fault of our occupation. The mem- 

 bers of the so-called learned professions may do this. It 

 is for us to determine whether it shall be pursued in a 

 manner calculated to elevate ourselves or not. Whether it 

 shall contribute to a healthy physical development, asound 

 mental growth, and to those noble, moral qualities, which 

 characterize a well developed manhood. Let us remember 

 that the most important crop to be matured is the farmer 

 and his household, and let our business be so conducted 

 that it will contribute to this great end. If we study those 

 natural laws by which we develop our business, we must, 

 inevitably, be developed ourselves, and thereby rise to a 

 higher civilization and a nobler life. 



In conclusion, let me say that the true index to our devel- 

 opment will be found in our works. Not, indeed, in the 

 amount of money we shall liave succeeded in hoarding, but 

 in the evidences of culture and thrift which will appear 

 around us ; in our homes and their surroundings, and in 

 the improvement which we shall make upon our farms, in 

 our gardens, orchards, and meadows ; in improved crops, 

 stock, and implements of husbandry. A photograph of 

 these would usually indicate the habits, intelligence, and 

 thrift of their possessor. It does not appear more obvi- 

 ously in the expensive surroundings of the costly palace than 



