IXTEODUCTIOK. 15 



I do not say that the whole of this result has been 

 brought about by this extraordinary number of plo wings 

 used to kill the Quack, but I feel quite certain that this 

 was the starting point and basis of the improvement. 

 One boy may spend his winter evenings with idle com- 

 panions, and another at home reading a few good books. 

 The one is never heard of afterwards, the other is the 

 President of a University. I do not say that the books 

 he read that winter evening made him the useful and 

 distinguished man he is, but it was the first of a series 

 of steps which led to honor and renown. 



I have spent a great deal of labor on this piece of land, 

 but it has paid for itself from the start; and what I have 

 done myself, I urge others to do, even though the wise 

 men may shake their heads. 



ABOUT HIGH FARMING. 



We have now far better tools for cultivating land than 

 formerly. In fact, our tools are better than our agricul- 

 ture. And we may rest assured that so soon as we adopt 

 improved methods of farming and gardening, our inven- 

 tors and manufacturers will furnish all the tools, imple- 

 ments and machines necessary to do the work. 



But will it pay to adopt high farming ? That depends 

 on what we mean by high farming. High farming, if 

 we confine ourselves to the production of hay, Indian 

 corn, wheat, oats, and other ordinary farm crops, will 

 not pay in this country. And Sir John Bennett Lawes 

 once wrote a paper or gave a lecture before a Farmer's 

 Club in Scotland, in which he demonstrated that high 

 farming was no remedy for the low prices of agricultural 

 products in Great Britain and Ireland. I think, how- 

 ever, he would admit that thorough cultivation and 

 heavy manuring could be profitably used for the produc- 

 tion of what we usually term garden products. 



Some years ago I was at an agricultural dinner in 



