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the fanner but upon the whole country. It has been truly 

 said, "To destroy tlie productiveness of the soil, to squander 

 the elements of that productiveness, is to destroy the hopes 

 of civilized humanity, and rol) posterity of its birthright to 

 a career of progress." We are the agents in the employ of 

 nature to prosecute and improve her interests ; and in order 

 to do this understandingly we must be fully acquainted with 

 her workings. We nuist understand the action of light, heat, 

 moisture and the properties of vegetal>lc growth ; how this 

 plant food is formed, and how and in what manner the plant 

 takes up and a[)propriatcs that food to its own use ; the 

 effect of cropping upon the soil, and the condition of the 

 soil under any circumstances ; the causes of fertilit}' ; the 

 effects of ploughing, underdraining, irrigation, &c. 



There is a love of nature instinct in everv livino- soul. 

 This, if rightly iniluenced, may conduce to the highest inter- 

 ests of agriculture. The mind is ever active, and possesses 

 the quality of curiosity to a large degree. It must know the 

 why and Avherefore of external objects, and their relations, 

 and it receives pleasure in the effort to obtain this knowledge, 

 and the possession bnt creates a desire to know more and 

 more. New ideas and emotions excite and perpetiiate the 

 luind's activity, which is essential to our enjoyment. Na- 

 ture is lioundless ; she is a complete laboratory ; she is full of 

 information. The sciences applicable to agriculture are the 

 key to unlock and disclose to the inquiring niiiid her mys- 

 teries. 



My friends, the future prospects of agriculture in this 

 country cannot i)e misunderstood. The rapid ipiprovements 

 that are being made in the machinery of the farm, show that 

 the mind as well as the muscle is actively at work ; that the 

 days of isfiiorant toil are fast s^iviuo; way to the united efforts 

 of the head and hand; that the prejudices which have sur- 

 rounded the tillers of the soil like mists around the moun- 

 tain's summit, are being gradually dispelled through the in- 

 fluence of an enlightened understanding:. The farmer is 



