M. P. WILDER'S ADDRESS. 409 



succeed. But why do we not apply the same logic, and prac- 

 tical sense, to agriculture ? We do not encourage an uneducated 

 physician, or a mechanic who is not master of his trade ; why, 

 then, do we expect men to succeed in farming, who know no 

 more of the nature of soils, nor of the adaptation of different 

 species of manures to the various kinds of grain, grass, vegeta- 

 bles, and fruits, than they do of the rotation of day and night, 

 or the seasons in one of the newly discovered planets ? 



I cheerfully admit, that there are honorable exceptions, in 

 this county, and in other parts of our land ; farmers, who have 

 brought science to bear on their practice ; who succeed, and 

 even acquire wealth, while others, destitute of such knowledge, 

 are oppressed with poverty, always in doubt and mystery, and 

 blown about by every wind of doctrine. 



Education makes the difference ; the former have some 

 knowledge of the adaptation of manures and crops to their 

 soils, and of the best systems of rotation, and of cultivation. 

 But the latter work at the other end of the lever, and vainly 

 endeavor to supply the lack of mental culture, by physical 

 power. 



Why have so many of our sons forsaken the farm, for the 

 office, the counting-room, the warehouse, and the professions? 

 Why such a rush, by sea and land, from the homes of their 

 childhood, for the glittering dust of California ? Why have 

 they not retained 



" That fond attachment to the well known place, 

 Where first they started into life's long^ race, 

 Which keeps its hold with such unfailing sway, 

 We feel it e'en in age, and at our latest day ? " 



Alas ! What has driven them from the homestead, overshad- 

 owed by the elms which their fathers planted, and under which, 

 in their boyhood, they wrought out so many youthful wonders ? 

 Why eat they no longer the " Old Nonesuch," or quench their 

 thirst from the " old oaken bucket ? " Why ? For that lack 

 of interest and skill in farming, which would have rendered it 

 as lucrative and honorable as other pursuits, and which educa- 

 tion alone can supply. Such examples, which have fallen un- 



