ing values, of rising reputation as a source of food, not only for 

 her own but for other peoples, domestic and foreign. Nature 

 adapted this as the garden State; and her sons and her daugh- 

 ters may well follow exuberant nature's lead. Her capital lies in 

 her soil and water ; and her greatest need today is for systematic 

 development of the one in such manner as to best utilize the 

 other, to the end that crops from the soil made abundant and 

 luscious by the ample water supply may sustain an ever-increas- 

 ing, intelligent and contented people. As her permanent capital, 

 the soil of the commonwealth is worthy of first and closest atten- 

 tion ; no pains or reasonable cost should be spared in the scientific 

 study and classification of the soil ; every acre should be consid- 

 ered with a view to its best adaptations, since it is the last few 

 pounds or bushels of product that yield clear profit. So, too, the 

 disposition of the product should be considered ; the pig driven 

 to market carries the equivalent of tons of plant product, the egg 

 bears the equivalent of pounds of green food and grain and 

 both leave useful by-products of nature's laboratory to enrich 

 rather than impoverish the farm. The time lias gone by when 

 farming was but a chapter of accidents, or at the best a series 

 of random experiments ; the time is at hand when the acutest in- 

 telligence of the American people and the most refined applica- 

 tions of modern science must be found on the farm and it is 

 no less true today than at the birth of English letters that "T!,e 

 farmer feedeth all." 



