THE FARM OF THE FIRST MINISTER. 4I 



was inglorious. It is equally true, that strong uplifting and 

 depressing influences are now operating upon the welfare of 

 our agriculture. 



Among the latter, may be enumerated a distaste for farm life, 

 due largely to bad farming ; the farmer's imperfect apprecia- 

 tion of the importance of his calling and of his position as an 

 owner of land ; as well as an exaggerated idea of the desirable- 

 ness of large wealth and the superior advantages of city life. 



Among the former, we may recognize as uplifting influences, 

 our agricultural journals and schools, our agricultural boards, 

 and the great organization of the Patrons of Husbandry ; all 

 accompanied by the activity of men of mechanical talent, by 

 whose inventions the results of labor are enhanced and its cost 

 diminished. 



The contest between these two forces is everywhere active, 

 and bids fair to continue to be. Malthus and Buckle may 

 tell us that states, like men, are born and grow to maturity, 

 only to decline to decrepitude and death ; and, in proof of this, 

 point to Babylon and Assyria, to Egypt, Persia, Greece, and 

 Rome. And in harmony with them Lord Byron may have 



said, 



" When falls the Colosseum, Rome falls, 

 And when falls Rome, the world." 



The Colosseum is now a ruin, and the empire perished fif- 

 teen centuries ago ; but the world still endures. So does Agri- 

 culture, man's primal calling and our own chosen pursuit. 

 This great industrial interest, which underlies and supports all 

 others, will last as long as God's great experiment of human 

 regeneration continues. For while " man cannot live by bread 

 alone," he cannot live without it. When that fails, man fails 

 and the world will be divested of human occupancy. Such 

 is the character, and importance of the calling to which our 

 energies have been consecrated. 



Let us therefore appreciate the importance of our calling and 

 love our acres, never forgetting the remark to her son by that 

 shrewd, old Virginia matron, the mother of John Randolph of 

 Roanoke : 



44 Never part with your land. Keep your land and your land 

 will keep you." 



