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and what is the proper remedy to restore them to their 

 primitive powers? 



The first reason I shall give is the general indiffer- 

 ence to the true interests of agriculture. The great 

 mass of farmers;, and those too, who are making money, 

 are making it at the expense of their farms, and are 

 inventing then- surplus in bank or railroad stocks,instead 

 of applying it on their lands. Another reason is, that 

 Western lands are so cheap and accessible that our 

 young men emigrate instead of recruiting the old farms . 

 Is it not a fact in almost all parts of the state, where a 

 farmer has raised a half dozen or more boys, they have 

 either been prepared for a profession or other business, 

 or have emigrated, not one being left to till and perpetu- 

 ate the old homestead ? Another reason is, that most 

 of our farmers own too much land to till it well, and 

 instead of dividing what they have with a son, are very 

 apt to buy out a neighbor who wishes to emigrate or 

 retire, and the two are sure to be miserably tilled. The 

 manner in which farms are rented gives another reason 

 for the depreciation of their value. Sometimes men get 

 tired of poor farming, because poor farming won't pay, 

 and rent their farms, asking so high a rate that their ten- 

 ant is under the pressing necessity of skinning the farm 

 to pay his rent, and then comes off with the skin of his 

 teeth. Another, is the want of capital properly expended 

 upon the land, buildings and fences, and in making fer- 

 tilizers. The farmer cannot make any better investments. 

 The last, and most prominent reason I shall offer, is the 

 want of proper efforts on the part of cultivators them- 

 selves in educating and encouraging their sons to be- 

 come tillers of the soil, inducing them to settle in the 



