358 Eome Department [August, 



otlier truth in agriculture ? The very amount paid by the manufacturers 

 of the various plows, to scribblers for puffing each, would be more than 

 sufficient, in the hands of a Home Department of Agriculture, to settle 

 every vexed question, and give the farmers the benefit of the results. Who 

 doubts that a premium of ten thousand dollars for the best plow would 

 call out the best ingenuity of the land, and that the improved results of 

 a single season would pay this amount many times, besides leaving its use 

 for future years as the permanent property of the nation? Would not 

 such an increase of product lead to an increase of mercantile activity, 

 and this to national wealth? 



Apart from monetary considerations, we live under a government of 

 written law, and we call upon our citizens to obey that law. We know 

 that, with the exception of such States and districts as have improved 

 the modes of agriculture, the plodding farmer can not afford to educate 

 his children; and that until he is enabled to advantage by the improved 

 processes of more fortunate locahties, he can not do so. The few States 

 where education is easily obtained, must not forget that a number, 

 nearly or quite equal to one-quarter of our whole population, can not 

 read the very law they are called upon to obey. It has been said, and 

 with truth, that "a prosperous agricultural district is never without 

 patriots to defend it." Let our whole country be in this position, and 

 a small but experienced standing army, with four times the usual 

 number of officers, would supply us with officers in cases of emergency, 

 while an educated agricultural community would find apt recruits who 

 would be good soldiers, if so officered, in one month. The bald excuse, 

 therefore, continually made in Congress, that every appropriation made 

 for experiments in the mechanical arts, and procured by the influence 

 of rich operators, is for the defense of the country in time of need, will 

 as rightly apply to such an organization as will assist in educating the 

 farmers, and rendering them patriots. None other will ever make 

 soldiers; at least such soldiers as a free government can depend upon. 



We do not believe in the doctrine that farmers should be contented 

 with a Bureau of Agriculture, and await the necessity for any other 

 organization. The necessity is now, and has been always apparent to 

 those who have understood the best interest of the country. The 

 Father of his Country, Washington, was not mistaken 'when he 

 recommended such a Department as part of the original plan of our 

 government, and for the purpose of calling into action the best talent; 

 advantao-ing from all the eclat that belongs to a department, as compared 

 with a bureau, and from having an officer whose duty is to make known 

 to our government the wants of the agricultural interests, it should be 



