MR. Oliver's address. 13 



severing industry and steady thrift ; what know we of the ways 

 and means of producing thel^best yield with the least appli- 

 cation of toil and fertilizers ? What know we of preparing the 

 soil, of rotating the crops, of sowing the seed, and reaping the 

 harvest ? But little, to be sure — and as one of these outsiders, 

 I am free to confess, that I know of the great and glorious art 

 of husbandry, only so far as may be learned by one, who en- 

 deavors to go through life with his eyes and his ears open, with 

 a proper study of books pertinent to the subject, and with a 

 mind not permitted to be wholly unobservant or uninformed 

 of what is taking place in the wide world in which he lives. 

 Yet, while I freely acknowledge that there are very many 

 hidden mysteries about the management, from seed to perfect 

 growth, of certain indispensable requisites of animal-life, and 

 creature-comforts, in the way of pears, peaches, plums, pota- 

 toes, peas, parsnips, and pumpkins, — corn, cabbages, carrots, 

 cauliflowers and cucumbers, — and the other heterogeneous and 

 multitudinous produce of a well-managed and well-yielding 

 farm, — about which I know nothing, and in which, were I ev- 

 er so wise, your own large experience might not be the better 

 for my teaching, there are, nevertheless, some other matters, 

 both of the farmer, the farm-house and the farm, of which I 

 have often taken note. Receive what I may say, as the 

 thoughts and suggestions, all desultory as they must come 

 forth, of one whose sympathies have always been with the 

 country and with country-life, and which, therefore, are kin- 

 dred to you and to your vocation ; of an observer, who, look- 

 ing on with a watchful interest in your success, sees that yon 

 sometimes operate with too narrow views, and with too nar- 

 row means. As a looker-on upon a game of checkers or of 

 chess, will often detect mistakes, miscalculations and mis- 

 moves, of which the players may be unconscious, so, may the 

 observant eye of the careful looker-on, detect errors, and his 

 suggestions point out their remedies and corrections in many a 

 branch of operative life. This thought is of wide application, 

 and has mutual and reciprocal reference to persons engaged in 

 the various pursuits common in civilized society. Men em- 

 ployed in the several handicrafts, are constantly in the habit of 



