MB. hazen's address. 17 



ledge may only mislead him, unless he is also acquainted with all 

 the circumstances and peculiarities of soil, climate and situation, 

 in order to understand whether the products or modes of culture 

 are adapted to his own farm. How much knowledge, embracing 

 how many subjects ; how much much skill and calculation are 

 required in order " to obtain the largest produce with the least 

 possible labor" ? And all this not only without exhausting, but 

 on the contrary, increasing the fertility and productiveness of his 

 farm ? 



If a farmer subjects his lands to an unvarying routine of crops ; 

 if he ploughs a field merely because it has run out, and he knows 

 no other means of renovation ; if he lays it down again, merely 

 because it has been ploughed and tilled just the number of sea- 

 sons that he ploughs and tills all his lands, without the smallest 

 reference to varieties of soil and situation, will he be likely " to 

 obtain the most valuable products with the least possible labor, 

 and to keep his farm in a state of as great progressive improve- 

 ment," as would be effected by a more various and intelligent 

 course of husbandry ? If such a mode requires more labor than 

 another that might be adopted, does he not lose the profit and 

 advantage that might have been derived from that excess of labor 

 otherwise bestowed ? Labor is a part of the capital of the farm- 

 er, and his employment of it will determine the measure of his 

 prosperity. It is the object of all practical science, and in all arts, 

 to increase the products of this capital. Much of the business of 

 the manufacturer consists in giving to labor its utmost possible 

 effect. The wonderful results of labor saving machinery, whose 

 operation he constantly witnesses, impress this principle of econ- 

 omy strongly upon his mind, and to its application to his own 

 business he is always bending his care and invention. It is no 

 less important to the farmer ; and he who brings to the subject 

 the most ingenuity, and gives to it the most thought, will be best 

 I able to appreciate its advantages, while in the consequent pros- 

 perity he will reap his ample reward. Much to this end may be 

 accomplished by the skilful construction and arrangement of farm 

 buildings and fences ; much by the plan, order and season of la- 

 bor; much by the mode of the performance of the work, and 



