43 



spending the winter in feeding out all that we spend the 

 summer in gathering in, copying the circle of the snake 

 that swallows his tail, or is there some better way ^ And 

 will more be gained by following the famous aphorism of 

 the Earl of Leicester, " The more meat a ploughing farmer 

 sends to Smithfield, the more corn he may sell at Mark 

 Lane," or by raising young cattle 1 



Now what may be asserted of each of these mooted 

 points is, not that every one of you may not have an opinion 

 upon it, and be very sure he is right ; but that his next 

 door neighbor is likely to have an opposite opinion ; 

 whereas, both being reducible by experiment to fact, there 

 ought to be, not opinions, but knowledge. The condi- 

 tions of a given result ought to be as clearly determined 

 as the oxidation in electro-magnetic machinery, combus- 

 tion under a steam engine, or the proportions of chlorine 

 and hydrogen in thirty-seven pounds of muriatic acid. In 

 looking over the several reports of the county societies 

 for the last year, I see complaints on half the pages of 

 non-compliance with the rules of the committees in refer- 

 ence to accurate returns. One reason, I suppose, is, that 

 a farmer begins the season with no idea of competing, and 

 therefore keeps no record; but unexpectedly finding 

 Nature has favored him with a remarkable i)roduct, he 

 takes it to exhibition, hoping his blunder will not forfeit 

 his chance. This suggests whether it would not be well 

 worth while, not only to withhold the premium on ac- 

 count of the omission, but to establish a separate prize for 

 the best method and most accurate specimen, in reporting 

 the whole internal history and transactions of the hus- 

 bandry of the year. 



AVhat the school-house is saying to the farmer, there- 

 fore, as the voice of the age in behalf of his science, is : 

 AVhile you are never to be afraid to think, and never to 

 stop that study which is both the pabulum and gymna- 



