MR. URBAN AND A COUNTRY HOUSE. 245 



he will win no confirmed triumph in either one or the 

 other, without having a personal love for the business 

 and a knowledge of it, or without employing, invari- 

 ably, those who do have such love or knowledge. 



Second : it may be fairly inferred that a fifty-acre 

 purchase is not necessarily a bad affair, even if the 

 purchaser is not personally competent to direct opera- 

 tions, provided he has the shrewdness to avail him- 

 self of the experience and good common-sense of 

 those who have the competency. 



Third : it may be learned that all the theories 

 about drainage, and particularly breeds, and the 

 blasting away of rocky fastnesses, and the use of con- 

 centrated manures will avail nothing, except they be 

 under the direction, and subject to the execution of a 

 thoroughly practical man, who has an eye to sale as 

 well as purchase, and to crop as well as tillage. 

 Philosophers, at best, make doubtful farmers : but 

 adventurous philosophers whose brains bristle with 

 theories, and who are without that breadth of knowl- 

 edge which enables a man to compare theory with 

 theory and understand remote as well as immediate 

 relations, make the worst farmers it is possible to 

 imagine. I have a high regard for our agricultural 

 newspapers, and think they are doing far more good 

 than our agricultural colleges (as developed thus far) ; 

 but there are weaklings, who, finding support from a 



