ELEMENTS OP SUCCESS IN FARMING. 5 



to new delights in new discoveries, and opening new fields for 

 tiiought and labor. Now, merely ploughing the ground, sowing 

 tiie seed, and reaping the harvest, will never of themselves lead 

 to the highest principles and practice in farming. Improve- 

 ments in husbandry, as in mechanics, may sometimes be the 

 result of accident ; but are, with few exceptions, the result of 

 careful study and deep thought. Our best and most successful 

 farmers are reading and reflecting men, — men who know how 

 to combine figures and how to investigate theories ; who, by 

 careful reading, have learned by the experience of others, and 

 who, by observation, have become acquainted with the relations 

 between cause and effect ; who have studied the comparative 

 value of the different crops, and the effect of climate and season 

 upon the same ; who have calculated the cost of cultivation, 

 and the net profits of their productions ; who, by means of 

 study and observation, have learned not only how to save ex- 

 pense, but also how to increase the quantity and value of their 

 products. 



If you will but cast about your eyes, you will observe a great 

 diff'erence in the appearance of farms. That farms, equal in 

 the quality of soil, and upon which an equal amount of physical 

 labor has been bestowed, present very different appearances, 

 examine them from what point you will. How is the difference 

 to be accounted for ? The land is the same, the labor expended 

 is apparently' the same ; but yet the labor is not the same. On 

 the one it has been entirely physical and mechanical, a labor 

 tliat is apparent to the eye ; on the other, there has been a labor 

 unseen at the time, yet constantly felt in the direction which it 

 has given to that which is seen ; a labor which has made the 

 fields greener, which has stored the barns fuller, which has 

 improved the dairy, which has put more gloss upon the coats of 

 the horses, and more fat upon the ribs of the cattle ; which has 

 put more comfort in the house, and more money in the pocket. 

 This labor has been the labor of the head, the work of the brain,, 

 giving systematic direction to the labor of the hands. Here has- 

 been a two-fold labor working in harmony together, and the 

 accumulated results are visible to the world. You need to 

 work your minds upon your farms as well as your horses and 

 oxen, and the one wants training as much as the other. Let 

 your colts and steers grow up without breaking into work, and 



