ES'SAY 



19 



favoring the production of grass, except in localities 

 warranting a change, is a loss. We sow our grain, that 

 the land may become regenerated for the ensuing crop 

 of grass. We cannot compete with the West in raising 

 corn. A pound of beef raised here costs more than a 

 pound brought from there ; and a horse, raised in Massa- 

 chusetts, costs twice what one costs raised in Vermont, 

 Investing in fancy fertilizers, has almost ruined the 

 fortunes and the farms of some. Our bogs lie much 

 nearer than Peru, and by adding alkalies their humus 

 becomes soluble. It is a pity, besides being a proof of 

 bad judgment, to let our resources run to waste. A 

 farmer who lets his manure heaps dry up in air, the 

 ammonia fly off to benefit another man's growing 

 crops, while he incurs heavy expenses in buying fancy 

 fertilizers, must make up his mind to poor success. 

 Guano is the opium of tillage, producing illusive and 

 dazzling results, but exhausting the productive capacit}^ 

 of the soil, by means of its alkalies — We ha,ve in mind 

 a farmer scientific, and yet economical and practical, 

 who tills the soil scientifically and profitably; who 

 culls from the jarring evidence of the experience of 

 others, all that is worth preserving ; who makes the 

 rules of nature his own, gathering up all so that noth- 

 ing is lost, and into whose business the capital of 

 thought enters largely — The agricultural college can- 

 not, it is true, give men common sense where that 

 is wanting ; but it may, help give an impulse, a zest 

 to a pursuit, which has been so unatractive to so 

 many; teach the farmer to appreciate the dignity of his 

 position, as owner of his domain in fee simple ; keep the 

 sons of farmers upon their native fields, and tend to 

 stanch this hemorrhage. But not to colleges alone 



