264 [Assembly 



alone we can understand the first principles of the science. Acquire- 

 ments have been mechanical, books despised, and every new improve- 

 ment rejected as the delusive schemes of new theorists, even after 

 their value has been well ascertained. Prejudice, too, obstinately re- 

 jected things, simply because they were innovations on the practice 

 of our grandfathers. 



An uncultivated farmer, who is a mere delver in the sod, has been 

 well compared to a " mere machine that annually produces so many 

 bushels of wheat; a mere pile of nerves, muscles, and bones, that 



lives as the father lived. 



Dies where the father died, and thinks the moon 

 That rolls above the head, no larger than 

 The father's shield.' " 



To use the language of one of our best writers on husbandry : 

 " Prudence, therefore dictates the necessity of caution; but ignor- 

 ance is opposed to every change, from the mere want of judgment to 

 discriminate between that which is purely speculative and that which 

 rests upon a more solid foundation." 



The same author continues: " The prejudices of farmers against 

 all innovation upon their established habits, are as old as agriculture 

 itself. In the dark ages of superstition, a man who, by any improv- 

 ed method, contrived to grow larger crops than his fellows, was sup- 

 posed to use supernatural means; and if he escaped prosecution as a 

 wizard, was at least shrewdly suspected of dealings with a power 

 whom his more pious neighbors carefully avoided." Pliny mentions 

 a freedman, who made his vineyard produce crops so much larger 

 than those of his neighbors, that they accused him of witchcraft, and 

 accordingly brought him to trial. When he appeared in the forum 

 he produced a stout daughter, and some excellent implements, as iron 

 spades, shears, &c.; and in presenting these, together with his oxen, 

 to the Senate, he uttered those meraoriable words: " These, Romans, 

 are my charms." Upon which he was honorably acquitted. Other 

 instances might be adduced, but one shall suffice: " On the introduc- 

 tion of hops into England, the city of London petitioned against their 

 use, lest they should injure the beer." New implements, too, have 

 been opposed, much upon the same principle as the objection made 

 about a century ago, in Scotland, and so humorously as well as truly 

 related by Sir Walter Scott, to the use of the winnowing machine. 

 "Your leddyship and the steward h?e been pleased to propose that 

 my son Cuddie suld work in the barn wi' a new-fangled machine for 



