INTELLECT IN FARMING. 75 



power of the press in this free country has rapidly increased, 

 and is now immense. If farmers wish a share in this fourth 

 estate they must write ; I repeat it, they must write, or they 

 will be left behind in the struggle for place and power. The 

 reading of the community in these latter days is much concen- 

 trated on newspapers, and towards the newspapers the talent of 

 the country greatly flows. These papers are open to communi- 

 cations from all, and thoughts expressed in them will reach 

 thousands of minds and make lasting impressions. Agricultural 

 papers are multiplying rapidly, and no farmer can afford to be 

 without one, and should not be content without contributing 

 his mite to the general stock of knowledge. He will find that 

 giving knowledge, so far from impoverishing the giver, will 

 enrich him rapidly. If he does not benefit his readers he 

 will benefit himself. 



It is a blessed thing that we live in an age when knowledge 

 is increasing and many are running to and fro in search of it. 

 The schoolmaster is abroad in the land, and after many years 

 of trial and struggle we finally have schools established for the 

 express purpose of training boys for the occupation of agricul- 

 ture. We expect great things from these schools, and if the 

 next generation does not furnish wiser and better farmers it 

 will not be for the want of superior advantages. Agriculture, 

 we hope, will be reduced to a more perfect science, and New 

 England be cultivated like a garden. In our rugged climate 

 and sterile soil is just the place for an agricultural college to 

 flourish. On the fertile prairie little need is felt for the aid 

 of science. As Cadmus sowed dragon-teeth on the plains of 

 Greece, and forthwith armed men sprang out of the ground, 

 so our Western farmers, if we may credit their story, have only 

 to drop the kernels of corn in the furrows in the spring, and in 

 the autumn their hogs rise up to do the harvesting, and in this 

 lazy, slovenly way of farming the hogs become fat and the farm 

 rich. I have not seen much of Western life, but what I have 

 seen has convinced me there is truth in the story of the Western 

 emigrant who said he went West to become rich, and his wife 

 to become comfortable. He had grown rich, but as for the 

 comfort he could not see it. As I was once passing through 

 Wisconsin I met two old friends who had moved to the prairies 

 for wealth and comfort, and one of them asked me if I had 



