296 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



to be implanted within us to accumulate, to have something we 

 can call our own. To carry, out this idea we must put forth an 

 effort in some direction, always feeling that the interests and 

 happiness of others should not be disregarded. Now, what are 

 some of the benefits of farming as an occupation ? It is the 

 healthiest employment in which man can be engaged. We 

 continually breathe a pure atmosphere, which gives a ruddy 

 glow of health to the cheek, a vigorous physical constitution ; 

 so that where real hardship is to be endured the yeomanry are 

 sure to be remembered. In fact they are the real backbone of 

 a nation. 



There are many things in farming that do not pay in dollars 

 and cents, any more than a pleasure trip to Saratoga, Niagara 

 Falls, or to some foreign land. The architecture of our build- 

 ings, shade-trees, and ornamental shrubs, flower-gardens, or 

 anything that adorns and beautifies, tends to please the eye 

 and gratify the taste. With these, and the greater security 

 of the investment, there comes greater quiet and enjoyment, 

 although the returns may be less. In any financial crisis the 

 farmer is the last to feel its effects, and feels it least. 



In visiting last autumn the residence of the senior member of 

 this Board, I was forcibly reminded of what the toil and art 

 of man may do in embellishing and beautifying the farm. And 

 when the proprietor took me over his spacious grounds and 

 through his beautiful orchards, and I partook of the luscious 

 fruits with which the trees were bending to their Mother Earth, 

 and beheld the green hill-slope, the beautiful fields and smiling 

 orchards, then I felt that " the field with lively culture green 

 was a sight more joyous than the dead morass." 



The time has been when mental energy and culture with the 

 farmer were not thought so desirable ; when it seemed to be 

 said that all who could do nothing else would do for farmers ; 

 that anybody could work. Oxen can work ; but whoever con- 

 ceived the idea of placing oxen on the farm without intelligence 

 to guide them ? The day for ignorance in farming has passed, 

 or rather for advocating it, and a brighter day has dawned upon 

 us, when the cry is. Give us knowledge, a better understanding 

 of the nature of soils, and the adaptation of the various fruits 

 and flowers, of plants and vegetables, to this vast variety. We 

 need a knowledge of chemistry, botany, mineralogy, and we are 



