CULTURE AND SOCIAL POSITION. 53 



or broadcloth ; whether tending his stock or waiting upon his 

 guests, the feehng always is, you are a gentleman. What one 

 farmer has done another farmer may do. Good manners will 

 always introduce a man into good society ; intelligence and 

 virtue only can sustain him there. Let these three requisites 

 be combined in our rural population, and I have no fear for 

 their social position. They will rise to the top as naturally as 

 cream rises to the surface of a pan of milk. 



There is one other means of elevation for the farmer to which 

 I desire briefly to allude, and this is, a determination to magnify 

 his occupation and excel in it. I have sometimes met with 

 tillers of the soil who seemed to feel ashamed of their business, 

 as though there was something degrading about it. All such 

 may expect to be inferior farmers, and to hold an inferior posi- 

 tion everywhere. A man is valued in society much as he con- 

 tributes to the good of society and excels in his calling. In 

 order to the attainment of excellence in any occupation, we 

 must have a love for it. Enthusiasm may sometimes lead to 

 failure, but never to inferiority. So far is agriculture from 

 being a degrading employment, we hesitate not in pronouncing 

 it the most elevating and dignified of all manual pursuits. 

 Kings, emperors and presidents may follow it without compro- 

 mising their dignity, and may leave their high offices and 

 engage in its pursuit without any feeling of degradation. 

 Washington, looking after his broad acres at Mount Vernon, 

 was the same gentleman and commanded the same respect as 

 when directing the army or guiding the ship of State. 



In order to the attainment of excellence in agriculture, we 

 must not only have enthusiasm for the pursuit as a whole, but 

 must follow the dictate ^of circumstances and the bent of our 

 genius in some particular line. Farming is a comprehensive 

 term, including many distinct pursuits. The rearing of young 

 stock, the fatting of beef, sheep husbandry, dairy, grain and 

 fruit farming, are only samples of the branches into which 

 farming runs. Now the trouble with many, I might say with 

 most farmers is, they undertake to ride too many horses at once. 

 As science and civilization advance, there comes a greater 

 division of labor, and consequently greater excellence. Dent- 

 istry, surgery and medicine, were only a short time since all 

 included in one profession ; now we do not trust our teeth ia 



