1850. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
263 
** Hark! where the sweeping scythe now slips along, 
Each sturdy mower, emulous and strong, 
Whose writhing form meridian heat defies, 
Bends o’er his work and every sinew tries; 
Prostrates the waving treasure at his feet, 
But spares the rising clover short and sweet. 
Come health 1 come jollity 1 light-footed, come; 
Here hold your revels and make this your home. 
Each heart awaits and hails you as its own; 
Each moistened brow that scorns to wear a frown,” 
Can there be any doubt that the occupation which 
gives such health and cheer to the farmer, is favor¬ 
able to the development of the mind, and the pursuit 
of knowledge, especially when we consider the in¬ 
timate connection between health of body and 
health of mind, and how many minds are necessari¬ 
ly feeble, stinted, and sickly , because dwelling in a 
feeble and sickly body? 
2. The farmer has leisure for the pursuit of know¬ 
ledge. Aside from the leisure which winter eve¬ 
nings, rainy days, and intervals between hurrying 
seasons of labor afford; he can, almost every day, 
snatch a few moments, or an hour for reading, if he 
has a desire for improvement . If the farmer choo¬ 
ses to spend his leisure at the stores and taverns, or 
in idle vacancy, dreaming and dozing away his life, 
working like his ox, and like his ox only eating and 
sleeping, he can do so,—but let him not blame his 
occupation, for if he only has a thirst for knowledge 
he can gratify it. No laborer has more leisure for 
improvement than the farmer. 
And, besides, the leisure of a farmer is worth 
more to him, in the pursuit of knowledge, than that 
of other laborers, not only because, from his good 
health and spirits, he is better prepared to improve 
this leisure, but because it will furnish him with 
food for thought, reflection and inquiry, during the 
day - his work, much of it, being of such a nature 
as to afford opportunity for digesting what he has 
read, especially if it relates to agriculture. The 
reason many farmers are no more intelligent is, not 
because they have no leisure , but because they do not 
improve their leisure. The most ignorant farmers are 
by no means the most industrious. Some of the most 
industrious, efficient farmers of m} T acquaintance, are 
the most intelligent also. Nor does their intelligence 
make them lazy, but rather stimulates them to labor. 
They take hold of labor,too, with more zeal and inte¬ 
rest, and feel less tired at the clo§e of the day, than 
the mere drudge, whose vacant mind is uninterested 
in what he sees and does. The man who is to work on 
a compost heap will not do less, but more work, if he 
spends a few moments in reading an essay or lecture 
on manures, so that he may labor intelligently. 
3. Agricultural pursuits have a healthy influence on 
the mind, and thus favor the pursuit of knowledge. 
The farmer is free, on the one hand, from the tor¬ 
menting excitement, anxiety, and perplexity of the 
merchant and trader, and on the other hand, from 
the dullness and monotony of the day laborer, or the 
mechanic, who does one thing the year round. Too 
much excitement or too much dullness and uniformi¬ 
ty are alike unfavorable to mental vigor and im¬ 
provement. The constant variety of objects which 
occupy the attention of the farmer, the interest he 
feels in his crops, and his growing stock, keep the 
mind active and healthy, contributing not only to 
his happiness, but to his mental improvement, giv¬ 
ing the mind an appetite for knowlodge, as weli as 
the body for food. The influences that surround the 
farmer are as favorable to health of mind as health 
of body • hence, if a man has a taste for knowledge, 
he may choose the life rf a farmer, as being well 
adapted to gratify this taste. His labor will not 
unfit the mind for improvement. 
4. The occupation of the farmer affords him an 
opportunity to cultivate an acquaintance with the 
natural sciences, and is thus favorable to the pur¬ 
suit of knowledge. The shoemaker, or the black¬ 
smith may be interested in the study of meteorolo¬ 
gy, but his daily occupation does not, like that of 
the farmer, give him an opportunity to observe the 
weather, the wind, clouds and storms, and their in¬ 
fluence on vegetable and animal life. The mecha¬ 
nic must have his shop, and the lawyer his office to 
make observations on nature, but the farmer must 
shut his eyes not to make these observations. He 
need not leave his work to observe the different kinds 
of rocks and soils he meets with, and the nature of 
these soils. If he has a taste for natural history, he 
need not waste an hour or two in the morning, to 
listen to the sweet music of various birds, and learn 
their habits, for his daily occupation gives him the 
best chance in the world to notice the habits of 
birds, animals and insects. The book of nature is 
constantly open before him, inviting him to read her 
laws. The investigation of the laws of nature af¬ 
fords a pure and exalted source of happiness; but 
who is so favorably situated to investigate these 
laws,— -while pursuing his appointed labor —as the 
farmer? Who can so well learn the laws of vege¬ 
table life, as he who is constantly experimenting on 
those laws? Who can so well observe flowers, 
grasses, plants grains and trees, and their habits, 
as the farmer, whose business it is to cultivate 
them, and bring them to perfection? 
It seems to be a wise provision of our Heavenly 
Father that the great book of nature, so interesting 
and full of instruction, should be constantly open to 
the tillers of the soil , who are the largest part of 
the human family. Farmers are just beginning to 
see how interesting this book is, and that they may 
find both pleasure and profit in reading this book— 
a pleasure that lightens toil, and dignifies labor, 
making the occupation of the farmer suitable, not 
only to a physical, but to an intellectual being. 
5. The practical advantage to be derived by the 
farmer from an acquaintance with science, renders 
his occupation favorable to the pursuit of know¬ 
ledge. The natural sciences, Botany, Geology, 
Chemistry, and many others, are not only interest¬ 
ing in themselves, but intimately connected with the 
cultivation of the farm. It is by the aid of these 
sciences that the great improvements in agriculture 
have been made the past few years, and that we 
may expect improvements hereafter. If the farmer 
will not study science because it is interesting, he 
must study it because it is useful, —because it is ne¬ 
cessary to the successful cultivation of his land.. 
However interesting science may be, the great mass 
of laborers, having little leisure, and no particular 
taste for science, do not pursue it. Even profes¬ 
sional men do not. They have no stimulus to pur¬ 
sue it, as the farmer has. For the same reason that 
a lawyer is favorably situated to obtain a knowledge 
of law, or a clergymen to obtain a knowledge of 
theology, a farmer is favorably situated to obtain a 
knowledge of the sciences. As a lawyer who has a 
case to try on insurance, on assault and battery, 
or trespass, will take more interest in examining the 
law on those subjects than a farmer, or a physician ; 
so will the farmer who is constantly working the- 
soil, mixing manures, and raising crops, take more 
interest in essays on these subjects than a lawyer, 
a shoemaker or a mechanic. The farmer will con¬ 
sult Johnston and other authors, for the same rea¬ 
son that a lawyer will consult Blackstone and Kent. 
A merchant or mechanic may read an analysis of 
the different kinds of grain, of the different soils 
and manures, but he has no such motive to remem- 
