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neighborhood, and become systematic, thorough farmers. 

 We have some noble exceptions. During the last 

 twenty years there have been great advances made by 

 many, brought about by the spirit of the age and the 

 general intelligence that has been diffused among the 

 people ; and the call for agricultural productions at hii:;h 

 prices has induced men to invest money in the farming 

 interest. 



The first, most important and surest means for promot- 

 ing the advancement of our agricultural interest is a 

 more thorough knowledge of the science of agriculture. 

 It is a lamentable fact that the great mass of the farming 

 community are generally ignorant of the most profitable 

 methods of tilling the soil. In all other professions 

 when men are poorly qualified and unskilful,we condemn 

 them and call them quacks, unfit to be patronized. — 

 There are more quacks in farming than in all other pro- 

 fessions; and too many are unwilling to alter from the 

 old methods, but continua on, groping in ignorance 

 without an effort to make an advance in the true art of 

 agriculture. 



A good education is a boon which all young men at 

 the present day may possess, and if they desire a sys- 

 tematic, thorough, liberal education, the more thorough, 

 the better prepared to cultivate successfully the soil. 

 Men are intellectual beings, made for high and noble 

 purposes and ends. There is no limit to man's attain- 

 ments in knowledge ; research is the nature of the 

 mind. When properly aroused it will grasp and drink in 

 like water every science with which it ccmes in contact. 

 Men have high aspirations, and are ambitioas to excel. 

 ' Some have a great desire to know the world's history ,and 



