226 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



EVENING SESSION. 



Vice-President Hyde occupied the chair, and introduced as 

 the lecturer of the evening, Hon. B. G. Northrop. 



THE HOMES OP OUR FARMERS. 

 By Hon. B. G. Noethrop. 



The homes of any nation form a true index of its condition 

 and character. The homes of the people of any calling plainly 

 tell their traits and state — their thrift, foresight, and ambition, 

 or their sloth, slackness, and improvidence. The Indian's low 

 wigwam alone, shows how little he cares for the rich acres of 

 the prairie around his hut. As " the hope of America is the 

 homes of America," so the hope of our farmers is the homes of 

 the farmers. When one's home is his pet and pride, he feels 

 new interest in his farm, and new nerve to improve every acre. 

 But neglect and slatternliness around the home are too plain signs 

 of shiftlessness and improvidence in the management of the farm. 

 No Ijjetter service can be rendered to farming interests than that 

 which shall tend to improve and ennoble the farmers' home life. 



The farmer's home should be healthy, intelligent, social and 

 sunny, a', tractive and tasteful. 



First of all, the farmer's home should meet the best sanilary 

 conditions. Physical vigor is the foundation alike of mental 

 growth and business success. The material precedes and condi- 

 tions the intellectual. Health is the prime essential to success in 

 any calling. "The first wealth is health." "The health of the 

 people is the foundation upon which all their happiness and all 

 their power depend," are mottoes worthy to be memorized in our 

 schools. 



Startling statements have been widely circulated as to the 

 unhealthiness of farming. Statistics have been summoned to 

 prove that farmers are short-lived and as a class predisposed to 

 insanity. A few years ago a prominent physician of New York 

 mustered statistics and arguments to prove that the cultivation 

 of the soil is not the most healthful mode of life for the laboring 

 classes — that farmers are not long-lived, but are especially liable 

 to depression and insanity. The figures of various lunatic asylums 

 were summoned to confirm his conclusion. 



