1S56.] 31r. John Thrift. 



341 



but he knew that oak, chestnut, locust and other trees would grow, if 

 they only had a chance to get a start before the hungry cattle were 

 turned in to browse upon and destroy them ; and he had, besides, ob- 

 served, that many of his prospective neighbors, who had plenty of tim- 

 ber, were cutting it into lumber, and were anxious to sell it at very low 

 prices, to raise money wherewith to pay taxes and store-bills. So he 

 concluded, after getting the approvnl of his intelligent and industrious 

 wife, to buy the farm ; and he did buy it. 



Mr. Jolm Thrift, we said, " is a farmer," and so he is. Not a mere 

 machine of a farmer, who rolls around from year to year in the same old 

 orbit, sticking as close to the usages and axioms of his ancestors, as a 

 wheel does to its axle. Yet he does not disregard the experience of old 

 and young of this and past ages. Neither is he a " book farmer," to be 

 led away by the speculations of mere theorists ; and yet he has books 

 about him. a library well stored with works upon the various branches 

 of agriculture ; and he also takes several papers devoted to the same 

 great subject, and he reads books and papers too ; and turns their in- 

 structions to profit as well as pleasure. 



When Mr. Thrift's neighbors first caught him taking an ao-ricultural 

 paper from the Post Office, they - whew'd," and - hem'd," and laughed 

 at the jokes (as they thought them) cracked at his expense; but when, 

 one day, it became noised abroad, that he had in his house a whole 

 library of books on farming, they wanted diminutive terms wherewith 

 to express their opinion of him. But the trouble his kind neighbors were 

 at, on his account, made no sort of difference to Mr. Thrift! He went 

 on using his strong arm and his strong sense with the most perfect suc- 

 cess. He subsoiled and ditched ; he drained and irrigated ; he manured 

 and mulched ; he bought guano and gypsum ; he fed his land with bone- 

 dust and lime ; he improved his grasses and his grains; he provided 

 himself with the most approved breeds of cattle, horses, sheep and 

 swme ; and he was ever anxious to possess the most perfect implements 

 of husbandry, which could be any where found. And thus did the streak 

 of progress, which we said was in Mr. Thrift's nature, make its mark 

 He had the gumption to see that if the business of agriculture stood 

 still, everything else in the world would leave it out of sight. He knew 

 of no reason why a tiller of the soil should go groping in the dark, 

 when there was a flood of light ready to shine m upon him if he would 

 but permit it. 



Mr. Thrift has now a model farm, worth many times as much money 

 as he paid for it. Everything is in order. His labor and intelligence 

 are amply rewarded. Plenty crowns his board, and his home is a pat- 



