230 PRACTICAL AGRICULTURE. 



spoken of farming ; let me speak a few words to 

 farmers. 



TO FARMERS. 



439. Yours is a nolle ]jafofession. I will not be de- 

 terred from saying this, because so many have said it 

 who were incapable of any just appreciation of what 

 they were saying. Many have written and uttered it, 

 who were much more willing that others should be 

 farmers, than to be farmers themselves. It is true 

 nevertheless. Yours is a noble profession. 



The merchant^ who brings manufactured goods to 

 our door, and sells them at a reasonable profit, and 

 thereby lives and enables us to live better than we could 

 if we had to go all the way to the manufacturer for a 

 gimlet, a plough, or a piece of calico, is doing well for 

 the community. His is an honorable profession, and 

 we are bound to honor him, so long as he pursues it 

 honorably. 



The manufacturer^ who converts the raw material 

 into the necessaries, comforts, and ornaments of life, 

 and then passes them over to the merchant, to be dis- 

 tributed to all who want, is also doing a good work. 

 We must honor him too, so long as he produces a good 

 article, at a fair price. If, by a life of restless enter- 

 prise, he becomes rich, we will not envy him. 



The farmer^ who produces the raw material, and 

 passes it on to the manufacturer, and through him to 

 the merchant, and thence to the supply of all terrestrial 

 wants, is at the foundation of the whole structure of 

 human society. What a pity it would be, if some 

 coxcomb, high up the grades of life, as he may 



