ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN 's ASSOCIATION. 193 



He should be a man physically, that he may stand 

 the toil and exposure incident to the life of a farmer, 

 and that he may transmit a strong constitution to his 

 sons and daughters, the future leaders of this great 

 republic. He should know the laws on which his own 

 life and health depend. 



He must have capacity for thought and action, hence 

 he must be a man intellectually, before he can be a 

 farmer. 



It is a great mistake to think that if a man fails at 

 ever}^ other business he will succeed as a farmer, or 

 that everybody knows enough to farm. Just as much 

 business ability, just as much brain power, just as close 

 an attention to details is required to be a successful 

 farmer as to be a successful merchant or business man. 

 Farmers who make failures can generally trace their 

 lack of success to the very same cause that the busi- 

 ness man will. It is either shiftlessness or unwise 

 management. In short, lack of ability. A successful 

 farmer in the Illinois legislature struck the nail on the 

 head when he said that a successful farm needed a 

 good top dressing of brains. The farmer, to get the 

 knowledge he needs in his business and to keep him- 

 self informed on the markets and current events of 

 the day, should take newspapers, not one paper only ? 

 but several. This calls to mind a little incident that 

 happened in Kewanee. A worthy young couple came 

 in from the country one morning and repaired to the 

 minister's house to be married. One of our justices 

 who had married a number of couples in his day hap- 

 pened to be there also. As the parson was in a hurry 

 to get away the justice offered to make out the mar- 

 riage certificate while the minister performed the cere- 

 mony. As soon as the preacher had pronounced them 



