1857.] The Farmer should be a Student. 413 



and if, when that stopping place is reached, and we find we have 

 made a clean sweep of it, no trout in the mountain-brooks — no fox 

 on the hills — no deer in the wild-wood — no hen, and no flower on 

 the prairies — and the last Indian has gone to the game-land beyond 

 the blue mountains, because there is none on this side — then, yes 

 then, honored shall be the man who will gather up the relies and 

 transmit the annals oi our semi-barbarism to a " better time coming." 



C. N. M. 



THE FATIMER SHOULD BE A STUDENT. 



It is a prevalent idea that a thorough scholar must follow a pro- 

 fession or pursue some sedentary employment, and that agriculture 

 is not adapted to develop his intellectual powers, and it, in return, 

 would recieve but very little benefit from his years of hard study. 



The improvements in farm implements show that " knowledge is 

 power," and experience proves that the scientific farmer is the more 

 successful one. 



The advantages the professions offer for improvement over those of 

 agriculture are not such as will naturally lead the student to seek the 

 former and avoid the latter. Vigorous bodily powers are necessary to 

 the proper development of the intellectual. Manual labor will secure 

 this, and much of the labor of the farm has the advantage of leaving 

 the mind free to investigate those sciences of which the objects around 

 aff"ord practical lessons. The unfolding leaf and expanding petal 

 are before the farmer, and invitingly direct his attention to the 

 study of botany, which has a practical bearing upon his employ- 

 ment, and has those pleasures connected with it which repays the 

 investigation, aside from its utility. ' 



The .swarms of insects which commit such depredations upon his 

 crops of fruit and grain almost compel him to study their habits 

 and mode of reproduction. The principles of natural philosophy, 

 especially mechanics, the farmer to some extent must practice ; how 

 natural that the theory and practice accompany each other. Elec- 

 tricity, especially its efi"ects upon vegetation, can be studied with 

 interest and profit. 



The science of Geology has at least a pleasant page of instruction 

 on his own farm. The plutonic rock, sand-stone, conglomerate, and 

 rounded pebbles, transported from their native beds, and worn by 



