106 FAEM ECHOES. 



God against " him that giveth his neighbor drink ?" I 

 am thankful that there is as little of this terrible evil in 

 this section of the country as in any I have ever seen. 

 With gratitude let it be added, I know of no such de- 

 serted farms in this neighborhood. 



Some farms are so outrageously neglected that it would 

 be better were they entirely abandoned by their occu- 

 pants, who are playing the dog-in-the-manger game. 

 They occupy, but will not improve, and because they oc- 

 cupy, others who would improve and prosper, are deter- 

 red from so doing. These cumberers of the ground have 

 much to say about farming "not paying." They cer- 

 tainly speak from experience, and should be credited to 

 the extent of believing their statement, but I should be 

 sorry to credit them in any other way, or believe that 

 their farms could not be profitably worked. If it will not 

 pay to take judicious care of fields, cattle, farming im- 

 plements, etc., it certainly will not pay to neglect them. 



The merchant who puts no money into the bank would 

 be unreasonable were he to expect that he could draw any 

 out ; and so with the farmer who neglects to enrich his 

 fields, but hopes to get crops from them year after year. 

 He starves himself who starves his fields, and justly so. 

 Land that is generously enriched will be generous in its 

 yield. Like its divine Master, it "loveth a cheerful 

 giver." It is quite true that there are "sermons in 

 stones." The earth too is a sermonizerof no mean order. 

 Its preaching is thoroughly practical and convincing. 

 Saint Paul listened to its teachings, for did he not echo 

 the voice of nature when he told the Corinthians that 

 *' He who soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and 



