JOHN P. NORTON'S ADDRESS. 677 



improved stock, examples of what may be done by devoting 

 the mind to any department of business ; for it must be ob- 

 vious to the most prejudiced, that these improvements are only 

 due to an exertion of the mind. The farmer who stands 

 highest among you for improved stock, did not go blindfold 

 into the market and select the first animal upon which he hap- 

 pened to lay his hand ; he studied the subject until he felt 

 competent, and then made his selection. 



In these two respects, according to my opinion, the farmers 

 of this country stand far higher than in any other. Their im- 

 plements and their stock are in some points better than their 

 land, or their general principles of cultivation, or the general 

 produce of their crops. We often see good stock, and good 

 implements, where the land is running down, and the crops are 

 poor. This state of things ought to be changed, but it can 

 only be done by the same means that have brought about the 

 other changes. When the farmer becomes convinced that a 

 knowledge of the composition of his soil, of his crops, of the 

 food which he feeds to his animals, and of the best methods of 

 improvement in all these particulars, is necessary ; and when 

 he bends the energies of his mind to the acquirement of that 

 knowledge, then and not till then, shall we see a decisive 

 change in the general character of our agriculture. 



No one I think can deny, that information upon the points 

 to which I have adverted to-day would be highly valuable, 

 but these are only selections, taken almost at random here and 

 there from among the great number of subjects that should be 

 familiar to every farmer. In a brief hour like this, all that I 

 can aim at is to give you an idea that there are things em- 

 braced within the province of scientific agriculture that you 

 ought to know, and that would be highly useful to you. 



If I came here and told you, as has been intimated by 

 some writers, that in the course of a few years farming would 

 be reduced to a mere pastime ; that by means of chemistry 

 your crops would be quadrupled with no expense ; that enough 

 manure for an acre of land could be carried in my vest pocket ; 

 that agricultural schools would bring about all this, and make 

 your boys chemists in six or eight weeks, then you would cer- 

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