ESSAY ON FARM ACCOUNTS, &C. 177 



And what is the lot of a young man who has come from the 

 city to be a farmer, and has invested his capital in land, stock, 

 and tools ? He has heard cattle-show orators eloquently des- 

 cant upon the independence of his new pursuit, and implicitly 

 believes Franklin's assertion — that " the farmer has no need 

 of popular fevor — nor of the favor of the great — the success of 

 his crops depending only upon the blessing of God upon his 

 honest industry." But he soon finds that industry must be 

 well directed in order to be profitable, and he is often at a loss 

 to know how and when to labor. Agricultural works and 

 periodicals are generally so interlarded with individual specu- 

 lations, that he turns from them in despair. Even the Reports 

 of Agricultural Societies, which embody so much valuable in- 

 formation, only detail individual cases. They chronicle the 

 management of the best farms in favorable seasons — the pro- 

 duct and growth of superior beasts — the fruit produced by ex- 

 tra attention — and the mammoth varieties of the garden. The 

 art of Husbandry may be gleaned from many a library, but the 

 student-farmer may commit to memory scores of works on 

 agriculture, and yet, like the Roman, "see the end of his days 

 before he becomes a thorough master of all its mysteries." 



These mysteries are not, after all, mysterious. The young 

 farmer who expects to enrich his land by some magical pro- 

 cess, will be as much disappointed in his expectations as he is 

 ignorant of the process of improvement. A mere theory, even 

 if clearly defined, is idle and useless if unattended with prac- 

 tical observations ; and the more practical information a young 

 farmer can acquire, the deeper versed he becomes in the mys- 

 teries of his profession — those magical secrets, which enable 

 his more experienced neighbors to bring home money from 

 market. The lawyer finds the mysteries of his profession in 

 almost innumerable volumes of Digests and Reports — the mari- 

 ner is guided by the science of previous navigators, as laid 

 down in books and on charts — the soldier learns how to ma- 

 noeuvre large bodies of men by reading accounts of successful 

 campaigns — the statesman gleans wisdom from volumes of de- 

 bates — and the editor seeks the mysteries of catering for the 

 public taste, in old files of popular journals. But where can 



