MARSHALL P. WILDER'S ADDRESS. 587 



and they must be thoroughly understood before farming can be 

 raised to its legitimate and rightful position. Witness an ap- 

 proximation towards this general result, in the improved breeds 

 of our cattle, swine and horses, and in the endless number and 

 variety of fruits and flowers, produced the last twenty-five years 

 by artificial impregnation. Thus Mr. Knight, President of the 

 London Horticultural Society, produced the Black Eagle and 

 Elton cherry, the Dunmore pear, and other new and valuable 

 fruits, perfectly suited to that latitude ; and this process is as 

 applicable to the production of new grasses, grains, and vege- 

 tables, as to animals, flowers and fruits. This principle also 

 teaches the art of raising the most valuable seeds, to avoid the 

 immense ainiual loss of labor and money, from the use of that 

 which either never germinates, or if it does, produces an inferior 

 crop. Age, which improves some seeds, destroys others ; and 

 the art, and importance of procuring the best, are but imper- 

 fectly understood by most of our practical cultivators. We 

 have room but for a single fact. An association of scientific 

 cultivators exists within our knowledge, whose object is to 

 raise seed for each other. The cabbage seed which they raise 

 for themselves, they sell for ten dollars a pound, but that which 

 is raised without this care, is sold for one dollar a pound ; 

 hence the former which is really the cheaper, will not pay a 

 profit, because its superior worth is not understood by our 

 farmers. 



We cannot refrain from another suggestion which we deem 

 equally important to the art of cultivation. We refer to the 

 necessity and the utility of a proper division, and individualiza- 

 tion of labor. The importance of this in other pursuits is gen- 

 erally admitted. It is not less necessary for the farmer. Some 

 have already practised upon this principle with the greatest ad- 

 vantage. It has relieved those fears which many entertained, 

 lest the farms in the vicinity of our large commercial cities, 

 would be ruined by railroads which have only changed the 

 crops and arts of cultivation. They have induced the owners 

 of those farms, to devote them to a single crop, or at most to a 

 few products for which their soil was especially adapted, or 

 which their proximity to the market rendered profitable. For 



