FARMS. 101 



cart wheels by the side of the house. All this may be conven- 

 ient, but is entirely inconsistent with the idea of symmetry 

 and order which the Creator has implanted in all men, and the 

 cultivation of which adds comfort and charm to life. As soon 

 as we put our eyes on the premises of a farmer, we know whether 

 he is blessed with a cultivated taste or not, and we should be 

 forever ashamed, if we awarded a premium to a man for a well 

 managed farm, whose premises indicated great neglect of this 

 faculty. When God made the world, he did not design it with 

 sole reference to utility. There is beauty in every object in na- 

 ture, and we do but carry out the plan of the Creator, when we 

 arrange our buildings with an eye to symmetry, and make our 

 home attractive. If there is any heaven on earth it is in the 

 home, and it should have an air of comfort, so that the family 

 may be attracted to it as " a thing of beauty and a joy forever." 

 It is the absence of taste in some farmers' premises, that has 

 driven the children to seek a more congenial home elsewhere. 



But we must hasten, in conclusion, to say that on a well man- 

 aged farm, intelligence so guides labor that every dollar spent 

 tells to the greatest advantage. " The mind is the standard of the 

 man," and the intelligence displayed on the farm is the stand- 

 ard of its excellence. It is a great mistake to suppose that 

 muscle is the great motive-power in agricultural pursuits, and 

 that the bright son must be sent to college, and the dull boy to 

 the plough. Nowhere is intelligence more in demand than on the 

 farm. In draining, composting, stock raising, and indeed in every 

 branch of farming, much money has been wasted for the want of 

 knowledge. Take for example the simple matter of fencing. 

 Many of our farms are cut up into small lots, by fences which 

 have cost as much as the farms are worth. Pastures have been 

 divided and sub-divided, under the influence of the old but false 

 maxim, " A change of pastures makes fat calves." A better 

 version of the maxim is, " A change of pastures demoralizes 

 cattle." It certainly necessitates a great and useless outlay for 

 fences. Money is not coined so easily in farming that we can 

 afford to spend it for that which profiteth not. Intelligence must 

 guide every step the farmer makes. If a Durham steer at two 

 years, weighs as much and is worth as much as a native at three 

 or four, then it is foolish to raise natives in preference to Dur- 

 hams. If a good garden will half support a family, and add 



