Opportunities for Young Farmers. 525 



ion of scientific knowledge by ways of lectures and essays 

 upon topics so near Lis every day life ; so that, if he will 

 but read, he may know more than his teachers of precept 

 and custom. There are heio-hts to be attained in the sci- 

 ence of farming, wliich is yet in its infancy, far beyond the 

 most sanguine expectations and fondest hopes of any among 

 us. How little we know of " how plants grow " or the 

 conditions of soil upon which they depend. 



How meagre is our knowledge upon the art of breeding 

 good stock. Most of our efforts in this direction have been 

 at hap-hazard, while the thing itself is governed by as 

 immutable laws as any in the vegetable kingdom. What a 

 field is here for a young 'farmer to acquire wealth and dis- 

 tinction, if he will but make of it a specialty and a life- 

 work I 



I believe in specialties. " What is worth doing at all is 

 worth doing well," is a good motto here. Life is too short to 

 be thorough in every thing, therefore seize upon something 

 for which you have a taste and facilities for pushing to a 

 successful issue. 



Take the veterinary science. How few of us know how 

 to treat our animals when sick. To be sure, every one has 

 a remedy when applied to, but how few have intelligent and 

 consistent ones. I was once told, when a boy, to beat a 

 horse witli a strip of board upon the bowels, that was sick 

 with the colic. I would not do it. My ready physician 

 did do it, to my utter disgust. I ever after longed for the time 

 when I could pay him, in kind, with interest, for such 

 treatment of my pet horse. I afterwards found, by study, 



