182 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



passengers— only one in 2.250,000 was killed. Riding on American railroads is safer 

 than staying at borne. With fair wagon roads, with our lakes and rivers and 

 canals, and with half the railway mileage of the world, the American farmer enjoys 

 the best transportation facilities in existence. The slow, expensive and unsafe 

 modes of transportation in the old world countries are some of the causes that 

 have kept the farmers there in a condition of practical serfdom. These farmers 

 are living like beggars, while the American farmers are living like kings. Money, 

 brains, enterprise, work— these are the forces that have sent our country to the 

 front. 



Americans are possessed of vivid imaginations. But what has imagination to do 

 with plowing or digging the potatoes? There never was a useful implement or 

 machine of any kind— a plow, a potato digger, a printing press, or a harvester— 

 until this imagination with its deft finger first painted the picture and hung it in 

 the workshop of some man's brain. A man's hands and brain are partners in this 

 great struggle of life, and the brain is the senior. 



PRACTICAL POINTS OF INTEREST TO FARMERS" WIVES. 



MRS. CORA MOORE, Elmira, at WOMEN^S SECTION, OTSEGO COUNTY Institute. 



Elmira. 



The first to be considered is the home. It is only a Avoman wlio can turn a house 

 Into a home. A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for mind and 

 body. In the majority of farm homes the woi-k of preparing the food and keeping 

 everything in order falls upon the wife and mother. She must be patient and 

 sweet tempered, and remember that no high or noble position was ever attained 

 without bravely bearing some cross. No woman can l)uild a most precious home 

 who does not understand that she must, for the crown that is set before her, cheer- 

 fully accept much labor, suffering, and self-sacrifice. Housekeeping can be raised 

 to a s'^ience, or reduced to a mere menial occupation. It requires education, adap- 

 tation and natural tact to fill the position with satisfaction. 



Home means so much. It means all that makes life woi-th living. There, if 

 anywhere, we are genuine. It is for the home life that we need to educate our- 

 selves. An important part of our education is economy. We need to learn to save 

 our strength as well as oin- dollars. We have compared, briefly, the majority of 

 farm homes with those of the city and have said that, however small or plain a 

 home, it can be dainty, neat and cheerful. We can place useful and instructive 

 books and papers before our families, that they may be fully occupied, and keep in 

 touch with the world around us. We can adorn the home with fruit and flowers 

 and with patience and perseverance. 



Beautify the farm house and grounds. One says: "The idle man is the devil's 

 cushion," and a woman has no more right to be a loafer than a man. Every 

 woman should have some source of income that she can call her own. I would 

 advocate no sordid service in the family. But I do think that toil without recom- 

 pense is as husks to the soul. I suggest dairying, poultry raising, and gardening, 

 as profitable for farmers' wives. I especially advise the two latter, as we not only 

 get dollars out of it, but the much needed outdoor exercise. "Our dainty notions 

 have made women such hot-house plants that one-half the sex are invalids." 



There is a larger per cent of tiie inmates of the insane asylums farmers' wives 

 than of any other one class of people, and the cause is attributed to the monotonous, 

 hum drum and drudgery of their lives. But farmer.s' wives are not all slaves; and 

 who could be content to live in the city, laden with poisonous gases, after living 

 In the country and reveling in God's best gifts, fresh air and sunshine? Here, too, 

 we have many luxuries, such as the products of the dairy, fresh fruits and vege- 

 tables, which would put to shame the city markets. 



And now, my sisters of the farm, let us so live that the blessings of a clear 

 conscience may be ours to enjoy, and with faith in God, a cultivation of the 

 Christian graces, due consideration for the comforts of others, and with newspapers 

 and periodicals so cheap as to be within the reach of all, and access to public 

 libraries, may we never grow disagreeable, ignorant or discontented. 



