184 WHAT I KNOW OF FARMING. 



anxiety, and care; that hail, and flood, and hurri- 

 cane, and untimely frosts, over which he can exert 

 no control, will often destroy in an hour the net 

 results of months of his persistent, well-directed toil ; 

 that disease will sometimes sweep away his animals, 

 in spite of the most judicious treatment, the most 

 thoughtful providence, on his part ; and that insects, 

 blight, and rust, will often blast his well-grounded 

 hopes of a generous harvest, when they seem on the 

 very point of realization. I know that he is neces- 

 sarily exposed, more than most other men, to the ca- 

 prices and inclemencies of weather and climate ; and 

 that, if he begins responsible life without other means 

 than those he finds in his own clear head and strong 

 arms, with those of his helpmeet, he must expect to 

 struggle through years of poverty, frugality, and re- 

 solute, persistent, industry, before he can reasonably 

 hope to attain a position of independence, comfort, 

 and comparative leisure. I know that much of his 

 work is rugged, and some of it absolutely repulsive ; 

 I know that he will seem, even with unbroken good 

 fortune, to be making money much more slowly than 

 his neighbor, the merchant, the broker, or eloquent 

 lawyer, who fills the general eye while he prospers, 

 and, when he fails, sinks out of sight and is soon for- 

 gotten ; and yet, I should have advised my sons to 

 choose farming as their vocation, for these among 

 other reasons : 



I. There is no other business in which success is so 

 nearly certain as in this. Of one hundred men who 



