248 ANNUAL REPORT. 



that the farmer should be a man with brains, and know how to 

 nse them. At the beginning God placed the farmer first of all 

 in his creation and if he does not continue to hold that position 

 the great structure of civil society must crumble and fall. To 

 hold the position it is imperative that he shall be thoroughly 

 educated in all the refinements of civilized life and qualified to 

 fill any position in government, art, science or literature, in 

 addition to a thorough knowledge of his calling; and if I mistake 

 not the signs of the times, the time is now at hand when the far- 

 mer shall be recognized as the most thoroughly educated of all 

 men. 



Market gardening, or as sometimes termed, truck farming, 

 ranks in importance not one step behind any other branch of 

 farming. It is a system of husbandry that will cause the earth 

 to afford more human food from a given quantity of soil than 

 any other, and may be followed by men of limited means who 

 could not successfully engage in stock breeding, dairying or grain 

 raising. Still it affords ample scope for the use of capital. It 

 is the best adapted to the neighborhood of cities and large towns 

 where it in a measure supijlies the place of private gardens of 

 individuals who have not land, or are so closely engaged in other 

 pursuits that they cannot well produce their own garden sup- 

 plies. The locality for the market garden is the better the nearer 

 it is to the city limits; providing the soil is adapted for the pur- 

 pose, even though the commercial value of the land should be 

 very great. The locality, if not near a city, should at least be 

 near a railroad station, or some other means of quick transpor- 

 tation. 



We often hear men who are looking about for some easy and 

 expeditious way of making a fortune, or at least a good living, 

 asking if market gardening is not an easy and lucrative business. 

 We can only reply by quoting the proverb: "The hand of the dili- 

 gent maketh rich. ' ' For the poor man no easy way to success has yet 

 been discovered. The rewards come in, if they come at all, after 

 long days and sometimes years of patient and well-directed toil. 

 The man who may be expected to succeed in it without the back- 

 ing of capital must be intelligent, persevering, and willing to 

 work, for the business, though pleasant and lighter than ordinary 

 farming, is laborious. By intelligent I do not mean that a man 

 must be thoroughly read in letters and science, although that 

 would be no disadvantage to him; but that heshould be quick to 

 comprehend and apt in making application, and he should be 



