48 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Feb. 



sounded the depths and shoals of the ocean of sci- 

 ence, and can discourse upon free ammonia as 

 well as upon free grace ; upon granitic soils as well 

 as upon flinty hearts ; upon the influence of the 

 moon on vegetation as well as on man ! Mr. 

 Beecher is in fact a shrewd, active man of this fast 

 world — or rather of this fast country — as every 

 man ought to be ; can do many things conven- 

 iently ; can drive a fast horse ; drive slow oxen ; 

 drive a liquor-seller ; drive a slave-holder ; drive 

 a bargain ; and if the "Lord prosper him," may 

 yet drive his "coach and six." 



But let me change my key. The above is my 

 "Plai7i and Pleasant TaW about a plain and 

 pleasant talker ; but one who, should his eye 

 meet this article, might be after me with "coals of 

 fire," and from whose wrath I could only defend 

 myself by that universal insect exterminator, the 

 fumes of tobacco. I therefore beg pardon, and 

 proceed to make a few extracts from his book. 

 Speaking of educated formers, he says : 



"Crafty politicians are constantly calling you 

 the bone and sinew of the land ; and you may de- 

 pend upon it that you will never be anything else 

 iDut bone and sinew without education. There is 

 a law of God in this matter. That class of men 

 who make the most and best use of their heads, 

 will, in fact, be the most influential, will stand 

 highest, whatever the theories and speeches may 

 say. * * * * If farmers and mechanics feel 

 themselves to be as good as other people, it all 

 may be true ; for goodiiess is one thing and intel- 

 ligence is another." 



"Just as soon as your heads are felt as much as 

 your hands are, that will bring you to the top." 



"There is no reason why men of the very high- 

 est education should not go to a farm for their liv- 

 ing. If a son of mine were brought up on pur- 

 pose to be a farmer, if that was the calling which 

 he preferred, I would educate him, if he had com- 

 mon sense to begin with. He would be as much 

 better for it as a farmer, as he would as a lawyer. 

 There is no reason why a thoroughly scientific ed- 

 ucation should not be given to every farmer and 

 to every mechanic." 



There is some truth in the above extracts ; but 

 if its author had been gaining a livelihood upon a 

 farm all his days — even if he possessed the same 

 amount of knowledge as now — he would not have 

 written this, or had the heart to ; for he would 

 have seen that a farmer has not the opportunity 

 of exhibiting his talents to the world that the cler- 

 gyman and the lawyer, or other public men have. 

 He would have seen that his light was hid under 

 a bushel, from his private position as a farmer, 

 and that his head would not have the influence 

 that his hands had. The possession of knowledge 

 and the time and means for its public display are 

 very difi'erent matters. And even now, if Mr. 

 Beecher were to retire from the bustle of the world 

 to a farm, in a few years he would be forgotten, 

 and men in public positions with half his talents 

 and power of instructing and making fun for the 

 million, would surpass him iu influence. Learned 

 farmers, therefore, as such, cannot wield the pow- 

 er that public men do, who are almost constantly 

 before the people. Who supposes that Daniel 

 Webster would have been heard of out of his 

 county, had he remained a farmer? A good 

 farmer he might have been ; and if able at his 

 calling, that may be sufficieut. He could not have 



come "to the top," as Mr. B. expresses it. Many 

 farmers may be scientific in their avocation, but 

 while they are obliged daily to labor on the soil, 

 their public individual influence will always be 

 secondary. The simple fact is, the laboring man 

 has not time to court public favor, or to seek 

 "the bauble reputation." Should Prof. Agassiz 

 now take up -agriculture for a livelihood, and be 

 obliged himself to labor early and late ; compelled 

 to pay taxes and perhaps a mortgage debt, and be 

 harrassed by all the doubts and fears that most of 

 our farmers have to be, in a few years he would 

 probably forget the half he ever knew ; he could 

 not raise his brow for new laurels, and would soon 

 "find the blessedness of being little." Such seems 

 to be the inexorable, if not the Divine law. 



Another reason why farmers' heads cannot be 

 felt as much as those of public men, is the jeal- 

 ousy of those of their own vocation. Here is 

 learned farmer A, among an alphabet of ordinary 

 farmers, who shares with them all the toils of the 

 farm. Upon the question whether he or Mr. 

 Beecher should deliver the agricultural address 

 before the county or district, most of them would 

 vote for the latter, whether in fact he knew so 

 much about the subject matter as the former or 

 not. They would say that A was one of their own 

 class, and knew no more than they did. 



Mr. Beecher would give every farmer and me- 

 chanic a thorough scientific education. Well, why 

 not give every person in the State the best possi- 

 ble education ? Would they be any worse for it ? 

 Would they not be better ? Would not such 

 learning benefit the housewife as much as the 

 out-door laborer ? Perhaps it would. But it 

 would be almost impossible to accomplish this, 

 and hardly an object. They must get along with 

 less education and more common sense. But a 

 proportion of learned farmers and mechanics we 

 shall always have ; yet the facility by which an 

 unlettered man can enter upon land and labor to 

 advantage, or take up some mechanical pursuit, 

 will always keep these classes of vocations inferior 

 in intellectual ability and influence. Those igno- 

 rant persons — the Irish, for instance — must have 

 work, and as they can turn a furrow or spade a 

 square rod of land as well as a college graduate, 

 they will find labor on the soil, and will tend to 

 push the learned man up or ofl", as men wish to 

 associate and labor with their equals. 



The great influence which money has in this 

 connection, I forbear at present to discuss. 



West Medford, Dec., 18G2. D. w. L. 



A Novel Stump-puller. — A writer in the 

 Bural Register states that he removed a large 

 stump from near his house in the following man- 

 ner : In the fall, with an inch auger, he bored a 

 hole in the centre of the stump ten inches deep, 

 and into it put about half a pound of oil of vitriol, 

 and corked the hole up tight. In the spring, the 

 whole stump and roots, extending through all 

 their ramifications, were so rotten that they were 

 easily eradicated. 



The Love of Truth is the root of all chari- 

 ties. The trees which grow from it may have 

 thousands of distinct and diverging branches, but 

 good, generous fruit will be on them all. 



