44 ., TKAKSACTIONS. 



can command them. The farmers, who understand their business 

 best, have usually selected their location with reference to a market ; 

 well knowing that this is a consideration of prime importance in their 

 calling. We cannot look to them to forsake their own private enter- 

 prises, and become apostles of the mysteries of which they are the 

 stewards, — at least, not until there is a better demand for their 

 labors. 



These model farmers of our suburban districts, are generally men 

 of intelligence, and have studied the theory, as v/ell as pursued the 

 practice of their art. They have been the patrons of agricultural 

 journals, not so much because they needed patronage, as that they 

 felt the need of their recorded experience and instruction. Enter 

 their sitting-rooms, if they do not chance to have libraries, and you 

 "will find there, upon the book-shelf or the center-table, some half 

 dozen agricultural papers, and Liebig, Johnston, Norton, and Down- 

 ing, as well thumbed authors. They are, to a man, those who read 

 and think, who work with their brain, as well as with their hands. 

 They are men who have done with the lore of their grandfathers, and 

 are willing to learn. Where they see a well-attested improvement, 

 in their art, they are ready to try it. They are frequenters and pat- 

 rons of agricultural fairs — prominent among the contributors of stock, 

 fruit, and vegetables. The process, that has made these men good 

 farmers, will make every farmer excel in his business. Mere instruc- 

 tion has not given them their knowledge, but instruction and practice 

 together. A perfect farmer must be, in a great measure, self-taught. 

 It is by testing the principles, laid down in the books, that he Avill 

 arrive at the best system of ireatment for his ov/n soil and climate. 



I reckon, then, as among the best helps to an agricultural educa- 

 tion, the agricultural journals of the day. The last five years has 

 seen a great advance, both in their number and in their quality. As 

 the repositories of the recorded experience of our best farmers, they 

 are invaluable to every tiller of the soil. The local journal, devoted 

 to his art, should especially be carefully studied, for it is adapted to 

 his own soil and climate. No farmer can afford to do without these 

 papers. They are as indispensable to his success as the manures he 

 puts upon his soil, or the tools with which he works it. They are 

 the best investment of capital a farmer can make. If well read and 

 digested, the investment will pay better than any of his crops. They 

 are now published so cheap, and the mails bring them to one's door 

 so conveniently^ that no farmer has an apology for not reading them. 



