134 



GEXESEE FARMER. 



June. 



The Farmer.— His Position, Responsibilities, 

 and Duties. 



NUMBER EIGHT. 



Patience and perseverance are cardinal vir- 

 tues, and indispensable in enterprisesof difficulty. 

 No great good was ever yet accomplished, no 

 important work completed without their exercise. 

 It is the continued effort, the unceasing labor, 

 that, in the end succeed.s — it is the shovel full of 

 earth oft repeated, that by and by removes the 

 mountain. The principle is equally applicable 

 in moral as in physical effects ; patient investi- 

 gation and persevering experiment are the great 

 levers in the advance of science ; and it is by 

 the ofl repeated and long continued presentation 

 of truth, that men are brought to adopt and fol- 

 low moral precepts as well as the trutiiful results 

 of science. 



In view of these general truths I would bid 

 the farmer who is praying for the elevation of 

 his calling, to be of good cheer. The work is 

 progressing, the end will come, so surely as the 

 few choice and truthful spirits who are engaged 

 in the work faint not, nor falter in their slow but 

 steady march. Patience and perseverance will 

 overcome every obstacle, and triumph over all 

 difficulties. Months nor years are not enough 

 for the great work. The progressive movement 

 requires a series of years ; nor must we antici- 

 pate a smooth and easy march. No ; the ascent 

 must be accomplished amid storms and trials — 

 but if amid them all we keep the eye heaven- 

 ward, and if, like the poet's mountain hero, we 

 keep upon our lips the inspiring word "excelsi- 

 or," depend upon it we shall in the end reach 

 the mountain top, and find the great and ever- 

 growing interest, the profession which embraces 

 the mighty mass of the people of this country — 

 in other words, find the farmers and the farming 

 interest elevated to its true position, at the head 

 and above every other class or interest in this 

 land, in point of political influence, and moral, 

 intellectual, scientific, advancement. 



In sucii a position ought the farmers to stand. 

 From their bosom should emanate our statesmen, 

 our judges, our professors, our scholars — and so 

 it will be, in this land, before another half cen- 

 tury. Look at the great inheritance whicli the 

 God of heaven has given to this people — look at 

 her boundless territory, her broad and cultivated 

 fields, and her boundless forests, yet untouched 

 in all their virgin purity and richness, and then 

 calculate their capacity for agricultural produc- 

 tioB — their limitless power to grow food fir mim 

 and beast — then turn from the broad acres to the 

 political institutions, which spread their genial 

 and invigorating influence over the whole of land, 

 and lake, and river, which unite to make up the 

 mighty Re[)ublic, and then tell me if there be not 

 a high and glorious destiny in reserve for the 



agriculturists of the- United States. Ancient nor 

 modern times afford no parallel to the position 

 and destiny which awaits the farmers of Ameri- 

 ca, as a class, if they are true to themselves — if 

 to their satural advantages of soil, territory, and 

 institutions, they add that higher ingredient, in- 

 tellectual suj)eriority. And how, I ask, is that 

 to be done, but by intellectual culture, mental 

 training and discipline ? Let me here repeat 

 the adage, "knowledge is power ;" few will con- 

 trovert this. But knowledge is not intuitive — 

 it does not come unbidden — it does not bless un- 

 asked ; it will be wooed if it would be won — it 

 must be sought after if it be obtained. But how 

 is it to be had, unless these means and advanta- 

 ges at hand for the attainment of the end, Educa- 

 tion, can only be had through certain channels 

 or agencies — and it is idle to expect the result by 

 intellectual superiority, without a supply and use 

 of the m.eans adequate to produce it. Yet here 

 is another and important difficulty which meets 

 us at this point, and that is the disposition to use 

 the means which, to a limited extent at least, are 

 now open to the farmers of the country, and 

 which may be hereafter opened to them, The 

 first point to be aimed at, in my view, is, to con 

 vince the agriculturist that intellectual culture, 

 scientific attainment, and mental polish, are ei 

 sential to his standing individually — to the elev. 

 tion of his class, and to success in his calling ; 

 and when the farmers and the sons of farmers 

 have reached that point — when they come to see 

 and acknowledge the importance and necessity 

 of becoming intelligent and scientific men and 

 farmers, they will then soon set themselves about 

 providing the necessary facilities' to reach the 

 desired end. 



There are various means of intellectual cul- 

 ture in the 'general sense. The school, the 

 lecture, the newspaper, the debating society, and 

 various other associations and means, are all gen- 

 eral instrumentalities for the mental culture of 

 the masses in this country, and these the farmers 

 of the country may use. Give them but the de- 

 sire, and these means may, by the proper direc- 

 tion and changes, be made beneficial to the farm- 

 ers as a class; and so they will be whenever the 

 farmers of the country demand and insist upon, 

 and patronize agricultural schools, and lectures, 

 and papers, etc., etc. 



Patience and perseverance are required on the 

 part of the few, to bring the great mass to appre- 

 ciate the importance of the intellectual part of 

 farming. Gradually but surely the work is be- 

 ing done. The last ten years has wrought a 

 great cliange in the views and feelings of farm- 

 ers on the piints indicated, and the next ten years 

 will witness yet greater changes. The Legisla- 

 ture of the State begins to feel the impulse, and 

 this I look upon as an important fact and the be- 

 ginning of better days. A bill has been reported 

 for the establishment of an Agricultural and Me- 



