THE FARM AND FARM BUILDINGS. 479 



cent specimens now seen on every hand, than it did to perfect 

 the present system of railways. It has taken brains and busi- 

 ness aptitude to accomplish this, as well as to build up the 

 greatest of modern improvements. Then why should the call- 

 ing of the farmer be considered as conducive to a lower order 

 of intelligence, or as being barren of intellectual results ? Such 

 conclusions are wanting, both in common sense and a proper 

 conception of human effort, and disclose a prejudice equalled 

 only by its folly, and the ultimate harm that it may produce. 

 "But," says one, "the life of a farmer is isolated, and he is of 

 necessity prevented from sharing in the benefits of society." 

 While this is true to some extent, he has the more time for 

 study and reflection, which are the natural adjuncts to a higher 

 and better education. That modernized society is not a promoter 

 of these conditions, no one should dispute. 



Considered from every point, a proper system of agriculture, 

 with just and reasonable remuneration, will afford better oppor- 

 tunities for educational advancement to the man of business 

 than any other calling. Men in such conditions, if they so 

 elect, can enjoy a continued intellectual growth that is denied 

 any other class that labors in production or exchange. The 

 danger which threatens to prevent such results lies in the farm- 

 er's becoming negligent, of his getting into the habit of delaying 

 investigation for a more convenient time, thereby losing interest 

 and falling into the rear ranks of his fellows. Again, constant 

 toil, which brings no adequate reward, or which brings a burden 

 of debt that labor will not remove, resulting from unkindly laws 

 or a want of business judgment, does not conspire to add pleas- 

 ures to farm life, but does drive men to the cities. 



A careful, intelligent farmer, under proper and equitable eco- 

 nomic conditions, is the most independent, self-reliant, and 

 conservative man of all classes or professions. The curse of 

 agriculture, at the present time, is the assumed superiority of 

 other occupations. It is this that is drawing the sons and 

 daughters of the farmers to the cities and villages. It is a desire, 

 to exchange the coarse boot for the patent leather shoe, the 

 coarse woollen for the smooth broadcloth, and the discolored, 

 horny hands of the farm for the soft, white ones of the city. It 

 is this fetish, this unreasonable desire, that drains the country 



