THE VOCATION OF FARMING. 31 



THE VOCATION OF FARMING. 



From an Address before the Housatonic Agricultural Society. 



BY ORVILLE DEWEY. 



It is said that there are, in the world, more than a thousand 

 millions of human beings. Certainly more ; though no state- 

 ment on such a point can be very exact. But how they sub- 

 sist, — that is, where their food comes from, — is very simple 

 to state. It comes from the earth; partly, indeed, from the 

 rivers and oceans, but mostly from the land. This fact gives 

 to the cultivators of the soil, in one view, the highest place 

 in the world. Men can live without clergy, lawyer, or doctor ; 

 without merchant, manufacturer, or mechanic ; but they can- 

 not live without the farmer. Agriculture, as of old was 

 fabled of Atlas, bears the world upon its shoulders. 



The man, therefore, who plants seed in the ground and 

 harvests the growth, may have the satisfaction of reflecting 

 that it is he who keeps the world alive and agoing. The 

 millionaire who rides by, with splendid equipage, may well 

 bow to him ; for the ploughman may say to him, "The world 

 can do without you, but it cannot do without me." But 

 whether he bows or not, mankind bows to the land owner 

 and cultivator. His is the most respectable kind of posses- 

 sion. Of all property, his is regarded as having a kind of 

 special dignity. This feeling is said to arise, in part, from 

 the fact, that the old feudal lords were chiefly rich in landed 

 estates. But I think that it is in part, also, because produc- 

 tive soil, commonly called real estate, is the only solid, sub- 

 stantial basis on which the human generations stand, and live 

 and move and have their being. How often have I heard the 



