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Its only aim to keep the hearthstone warm, 



And fill the cupboard 'fjainst the winter's storm; 



But for its duties see that it demands 



A mind of culture to direct their hands, 



To ease their burdens, help the sinewy arm, 



Invent some cunnintj tool to bless the farm, 



To richly bless the man, by showing how 



To grow two grass-blades where but one does now. 



Farming 's a science ; better still, we 'U say 



Each natural science does it homage pay ; 



Contributes each to it a precious store 



Of various knowledge and protbundest lore. 



One tells the farmer of his stock, their race, 



How they 're related, of their native place, 



Another shows the wondrous way they 're formed, 



Their curious structure, how their life prolonged. 



The laws that govern plants a third reveals, 



Their cunning parts, their hidden use unseals, 



The soil another in its mortar grinds, 



And tells each part, each atom there it finds; 



Tells what there 's wanting to increase its power 



To feed the giant tree, the creeping flower; 



What there is present with a baneful sway. 



To nourish tares and drive good seed away. 



But science only teaches us to know ; 



In vain our knowledge, if we cannot show 



Its fruits in skilful labor, something done. 



Some foe to progress fought and overcome. 



To do, to act, the farmer's task commands ; 



A trusty beacon science ever stands. 



Profound the problem how the world to feed ! 



And know, O farmer, 't is your task ; take heed ; 



See that your power, if you will, expands 



Beyond the limits of ancestral lands, 



Beyond your town-house, ay, bej'ond the sea, 



And thrones and kingdoms pay it fealty. 



Now even men of mind may greatly err ; 



One sees a man who thinks he can refer 



To such a page, in such a well-bound book, 



For every fact, and by that hasty look 



Can raise his crops, his horses, and his kine, 



Without much practice in the farming line. 



They tell a story of a verdant youth, 



AV^ho would of shad-machines imbibe the truth ; 



Which, by the by, are so arranged for use. 



That, when applied to shad, there 's no excuse 



For choking; by a gentle turn, each bone 



Over the shoulder of the man is thrown ; 



While luscious morsels fly for opened mouth, 



As winged songsters seek the sunny south. 



This youth, alas! the crank the wrong way turned, 



Reversed the action, and a lesson learned ; 



For while his face was like a hedgehog clad. 



Upon the floor he saw the longed-for shad. 



And to the farmer, like this tool, 's the mind ; 



If rightly used it leaves no sting behind ; 



