228 MY FARM. 



" mystery of husbandly." For these reasons it is, 

 that I say, let no man rashly hope to revolutionize 

 farming, upon the strength of clean copies of Liebig 

 and Boussingault. 



A Gypseous Illustration. 



r I ^HJK farming community has a great respect for 

 JL men of science ; it never thinks of distrusting 

 any of their dicta, so long as they are conveyed in 

 scientific and only half-intelligible language. The 

 working-farmer is altogether too busy and shrewd 

 a man to controvert a statement of which he has 

 only vague and muddy comprehension. His dignity 

 is saved, by bowing acquiescence, and passing it un- 

 challenged. Thus, if the Professor, talking in the 

 interests of agriculture, says : " Gypsum is very ser- 

 viceable in fixing the ammonia which is brought 

 down from the atmosphere by showers," the com- 

 mon-sense farm-listener is disposed to admit so airy 

 a truth. But if the Professor, meeting him over the 

 fence, says : " Plaster is an excellent manure," the 

 common-sense man retorts : 



" Waal d'n'know ; depends a leetle upon the 

 sile, in my opinion." 



But as the scientific man confines himself mostly 

 to the language of the desk, and meets with an ad- 

 miring assent; he is apt, I think, to generalize some- 



