CHAPTER XXIII. 



CONCLUSION OF THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 



IN conclusion, fellow- farmers, let me tell you why I 

 have written this book. In the first place, I am actuated 

 by an earnest desire to do all I can to improve the con- 

 dition of the American farmer. His life has been too 

 long a life of toil and drudgery. He has had little if 

 any time for social enjoyment or intellectual improve- 

 ment. Hard work continuously, accompanied by the 

 most parsimonious economy, has been the only way by 

 which he could hope to acquire a competence for his old 

 age. In this fierce struggle oftentimes the farmer's wife 

 has had the hardest lot of the two ; working from early 

 morn until late at night, the slave of a horde of hired 

 men the profit on whose labor, by the old systems, was 

 so slender that the expense of a hired girl would have 

 put the balance on the wrong side, till at last, weary and 

 worn, too often she lies down to her last sleep when but 

 half way on the journey of life ; leaving a family of 

 children to grow up as best they may, without any of 

 those tender and hallowed influences which ought to 

 surround every fireside, and make its bright and happy 

 memories in after life a golden shield of protection to 

 keep them from straying from the right way wherein 

 there is happiness, joy, and peace. 



The boys grow up. They hate farming : they go to 



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