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work, instead of being a toil, becomes an invigoratiug pleasure^ 

 strengthening the muscles, giving tone and elasticity to the 

 mind ; it pulls up the stumps in your mowing fields ; it makes 

 brush fences give place to substantial walls ; it drains your 

 land, warms the earth, builds large barns, and fills them too- 

 Little incidents in every day life attests its value. One of the 

 most successful farmers of this county, a gentleman educated 

 to commercial pursuits, taking up farming as a matter of plea- 

 sure, but applying to it the energy which had assisted him to 

 wealth in other labors, has made his farm not only a source of 

 pleasure, but of profit also. When most farmers were suffering 

 loss in their hay crops by the drenching rains of the past sum- 

 mer, his barns were stowed with sweet and nutritious hay. By 

 keeping his lands in a high state of cultivation, his grass was 

 ready for the scythe before the rains set in, and being ready, 

 it was cut and cured, a large part of it in the barns. But one 

 day, at evening, some twenty-five tons were still standing in 

 the cock, ready to go in the next morning ; but the afternoon 

 had given indications of rain, which the evening more fully 

 confirmed. Instead of doing as most farmers would have 

 done, sitting down quietly, hoping that by some possibility the 

 signs might fail, and vainly regretting that he had not began 

 his work a day earlier, he called his men together after supper, 

 and said : that hay must be in the barn before morning ; I want 

 you to work to-night. The men, seeing the receipts of the 

 extra labor, and feeling the influence of their employer's ener- 

 gy, went to work with a will, and just as the first drops began 

 to patter in early morning, the last load was standing upon the 

 floor of the barn. And the next day, and the next week, the 

 rains that with scarcely a glimpse of sunshine between the 

 showers, were souring and rotting the mown grass of a major- 

 ity of our farmers, were refreshing and invigorating his closely 

 mown fields, and sending up a second and luxuriant crop, while 

 the first was safely housed in his spacious barns. Another 

 farmer, with like energy, finding the weather just preceding 

 the rains favorable for curing hay, employed a large ex- 



