sometimes inclined to think that the moral, intellectual and 

 social conditions of the agricultural population of a country is 

 more indicative of its real civilization and of its advancement 

 in all the arts and cultivation of life than are its churches and 

 school-houses — its systems of education and religion. 



The great question now occupying the minds of those inter- 

 ested in the welfare of civilized man as a member of society is 

 how can the comfort, prosperity and intelligence of the agri- 

 cultural population be best subserved and promoted. England 

 discusses the welfare of the tenant-farmer ; Russia considers 

 the condition of the recently emancipated serf; France is in- 

 terested in the prosperity of an unambitious, industrious, frugal 

 body of small land-holders and cultivators. The American 

 goes further, and inquires — How can an American farmer, oc- 

 cupying a farm of usual dimensions here, discharge his duty to 

 the State as a voter and tax-payer, and gratify his desires with 

 regard to the education of his family, the comfort and culture 

 of his home, and the informing of his own mind and the grat- 

 ification of his tastes, from the income which he can derive 

 from the cultivation of the land ? And this is the American 

 problem of to-day. 



That the prosperity of agriculture has kept pace with tlie 

 increasing prosperity of every other industry in our land is 

 manifest. The activity of the grain-growing sections of our 

 country has been great for more reasons than one ; and the 

 demand for the products of the pasture and the stall has been 

 most encouraging to those who supply the provision market at 

 home and abroad. It may be that this encouragement of 

 local and special crops has not been as great, and that the 

 farmer is called upon to consider how he can secure a suitable 

 reward for the labor which he applies to the careful and system- 



