30 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



success depends not on the readiness and skill with which he 

 obeys a superior, but on the energy, and intelligence, and 

 industry with which he manages his own affairs. So true is this, 

 that a successful American farmer is not a farmer only ; lie is 

 an influential citizen, a man of intelligence, remarkable for a 

 strong and healthy mind, and for accurate observation. He may 

 not be versed in the rules of science ; the chemical laws may be 

 closed to him ; the wonders of geology, and the beauties of 

 natural history may be unknown to him ; but he has an intimate 

 acquaintance with nature, and a clear comprehension of her pro- 

 cesses, gained by placing himself in close alliance with all that 

 she displays about him. He is as well acquainted with the 

 wants of his soil, as if he carried with him the laboratory of 

 Liebig — perhaps better. He knows the capacity of his land ; 

 and makes no unreasonable demands upon it. As if by magic, 

 his crops come forth, and offer an abundant reward for that 

 skilful labor which he applies with a sort of instinctive sagacity. 

 And the faculty which enables him to do this, enables him also 

 to maintain that position which belongs to men of large mind 

 and large heart, who enjoy the privileges and bear the respon- 

 sibilities of civil freedom. 



To ascertain the best method of diffusing agricultural educa- 

 tion, among a people thus capable of educating themselves, is 

 by no means easy. The knowledge which they have already 

 gained by practical experience and close observation, must not 

 be overlooked. Their fathers chose, with unerring judgment, 

 those fertile spots, which not even the darkness of the heavy 

 forests could conceal from their acute vision ; and, with sturdy 

 and untiring toil, they made those old farms which are so well 

 known throughout this State, and which have given evidence 

 for years that they were selected with a thorough knowledge 

 of what good land is. In all the manipulations of common 

 farming, these New England farmers have rarely been excelled. 

 They may be somewhat slow to adopt new theories, or to reject 

 old practice ; but they know well what they do know, and they 

 apply their knowledge with economical skill. Give one of these 

 men an acre of good corn land, and he will furnish a crop, 

 which in quality, and quantity, and economy of cultivation, 

 cannot be surpassed. It may not be the nicest and most fin- 

 ished mode of culture, but it is the most effectual. In their 



