Vol. XIII. 



ROCHESTER, N. Y., SEPTEMBER, 1852. 



No. IX. 



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HOW CAN HE GET WISDOM THAT HOLDETH THE PLOW? 



The wisdom of a learned man cometh by opportunity of leisure. How can he get wisdom that 

 holdeth the plow, that glorieth in the goad, that driveth oxen, and is occupied in their labors, and 

 Avhose talk is of bullocks? — Ecclesiasticws. Chap. 38, verses 24, 25. 



For three thousand years, and how much longer we know not, farmers have been 

 reproached as stupid hinds, who had little " leisure to get wisdom," and less disposition 

 to improve aright the " opportunities" which they possessed. Is it not time that all 

 men identified with this great interest, should do something to increase the knowledge 

 of farmers, who, we are told by the author above quoted, " are not sought for in public 

 council" ? Improved implements of tillage and husbandry have greatly diminished the 

 labor of production, and agriculturists now enjoy, if they will, as much leisure for study, 

 reflection, and the getting of wisdom, as any other class in society. 



How to turn this leisure to the best account, is a question which every reader should 

 deeply ponder. The careful reading of the works of wise men suggests itself as one 

 means open to all, in this age of cheap books, for the increase of knowledge. But so 

 far as agricultural arts and sciences are treated of, our books are sadly defective ; and 

 down to this hour, those most interested in their improvement have never so much as . 

 lifted a finger to make agricultural works what they ought to be. One can write as 

 well as talk a great deal about the breeds of bullocks, and impart no instruction what- 

 ever ; and for the best of all reasons, because the writer has no knowledge to communi- 

 cate. Writing and printing signify little but the lamentable waste of the time of all 

 readers, unless due care has been used to make the instructor worthy of his high calling. 

 If a writer be ignorant of the 2)rinciples of his profession, how can his darkness give 

 light to others ? If the science of farm economy is to be taught at all in this country, 

 is it not high time that somebody be fully educated, to instruct us in this science ? 

 Unless something more is done to augment the knowledge of those that write for agri- 

 cultural periodicals, how is it possible to maintain the interest, and steadily increase the 

 Value of these publications ? If our teachers make no progress, can their pupils be 

 expected to go far beyond them ? Will it be said that in agricultural knowledge, all 

 ideas of advancement are Utopian and visionary ? The farmer who lived in the time of 

 Abraham cherished this stand-still notion, as " he gave his mind to make fun-otvs, and 

 was diligent to give the kine fodderP Let us not be understood as undervaluing the 

 devotion of " mind " to the making of furrows, nor the virtue of diligence in giving the 

 kine fodder. It is the refusal to cultivate the mind as well as the soil, that we condemn. 

 It is the everlasting degradation of the owner of the kine to their level, that we shall 

 never cea.se to reprobate. It is that blind, mistaken policy, which excludes so large a 

 share of the freeman of this Republic from its " councils," except as they are made the 



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