10 



ness that pays, and are not over-anxious to know that its prosecu- 

 tion is advantageous to the communit3\ Now the honest truth 3S, 

 that none of these classes will find farming a paying business, unless 

 their views are materially modified, and they had better not engage 

 in it. The latter class, not being able to appreciate the fact that no 

 business J)^y^ except that in which honest labor creates a value, 

 might as well make a clean breast of it, and plunge into some wild 

 scheme of speculation, where, having nothing to risk and nothing 

 to lose, there may be one chance in ten thousand to win ; or better 

 yet, engage in manufacturing money on their own account, or by a 

 single night's stealthy toil, get possession of some great deposit of 

 bank notes and government bonds, which would decide the question 

 of what pays. On the other hand, there are men of whose schemes, 

 plans and forecast we can know but little, but of whom it apj)ears 

 that everything they touch, and much which they do not touch, 

 was turned into gold in their coffers. They seem to have a mag- 

 netic power, which causes wealth to flow to them without act or 

 volition on their part. Farming, pays such men. In relation to 

 secular affairs, no more erroneous or hurtful idea was ever enter- 

 tained than that any business, in and of itself, ever did or ever can 

 pay. The fact is, everything depends upon the man. In ordinary 

 cases he controls the situation, and is a more important element in 

 producing results than the mere pursuit. For an exact under- 

 standing of this subject, therefore, we should, just as far as possi- 

 ble, discard these extreme cases on either side, and ascertain, if we 

 can, if the soil does not return a paying value and support for 

 average labor and intelligence expended in its cultivation. If we 

 knew nothing of the minute details of the matter it would be fair 

 to presume that it did, for two reasons : First, because that from 

 the very nature and constitution of our being, the tilling of the 

 ground is, and must forever be, the occupation of much the largest 

 portion of our race. This was planned by the Great Desrgaer, and 

 it cannot be that it was intended in any sense to be unrequited toil ; 

 but on the other hand, that it should, all things considered, abund- 

 antly reward all the labor required. And second, because in agri- 

 culture, the workman, if he knows his business, need perform but 

 half the labor. He is simply a co-worker, a helper. If he but plan 

 aright, Nature's powers and forces enter the field and delve early 

 and late. Tirelessly, they work on, whether he sleeps or wakes, and 

 the grand results of this gratuitous labor are all his own. 



