ADDRESS. 15 



plenty of capital, so as to control and not be controlled by the 

 market, and is industrious and devoted t(» his business. Tolera- 

 bly fair proportions these, and to sucli an one, while occasional 

 years of ill luck and disaster may possibly come, decade after 

 decade brings Avith absolute certainty, prosperity and increased 

 capital. 



Having thus laid down general principles , let us apply them 

 to the business of farming. I have, it will have been noticed, 

 in following down the general principles and evolving these rules, 

 made special reference only to manufacturers and merchants. 

 I wished to speak of farming, at length, and by itself. The dis 

 tinctive feature of agriculture, as I have said, is the multiplication 

 of products by subjecting them to the action of natural causes. 

 This is true of the production of field crops. The farmer is also 

 a manufacturer, to the extent of his butter, cheese, cider., curing 

 of hay and general preservation of his crops. Indeed, it seems 

 to me, that really scientific farming, requires a knowledge of more 

 things, than does any other branch of business. Mineralogy, so 

 far as is concerned the nature and treatment of soils ; chemistry, 

 at least the simpler forms of chemical action and combination 

 governing the laws of growth ; . botany, at least the botanical 

 structure of the plants he wishes to grow ; the habits, wants and 

 diseases of all kinds of domestic animals ; a httle about insects, 

 and a good deal about getting rid of them, are but a few of the 

 forms of knowledge essential to the farmer. I do not say that 

 all farmers know all these things, I only say they ought to. 

 Something ver}^ like instinct, convictions boni of observation, 

 precedent, and necessity, and developed, it must be confessed, to 

 a condition of remarkable accuracy and correctness, have gen- 

 erally supplied the place of science to the farmer, and served as his 

 guide to action. But I am speaking in the belief that, as in 

 mechanics, so in farming, the day of estimates, guesswork, 

 allowances, and " working by the eye," has gone, or is going by, 

 and in place of these, scientific rules, based upon known prin- 

 ciples, are to govern and lead to precision, and absolute certainty 

 of results. 



Besides these features in farming, there is one important differ- 

 ence between it and most other kinds of business. While with 

 the manufacturer and the merchant, home and all the expenses 

 of living, are usually entirely separate from the business, and 

 easily kept so, with the farmer, home and its expenses are so 

 closely united and blended with the farm and the business, and 

 SO many of the products of the latter enter directly into the con- 



