250 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
July, 
Acquisition of Knowledge. 
The attention of the readers of the Cultivator has been 
repeatedly called to the importance of mental improve¬ 
ment. All will readily acknowledge, that it should be 
the constant care of the farmer to improve the soil, but 
the improvement of the mind,—the matter that should 
receive the first attention,—is delayed or entirely neglect¬ 
ed. These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the 
other undone.” Farmers should be improved as well as 
farms, and their improvement should be attended to first, 
and then the other will be more easily accomplished. 
When I was quite young, I marvelled somewhat to 
hear a young man say that he had never seen any wheat 
growing. He was intelligent and a skilful mechanic, and 
had always lived in a sea coast village, located in an im¬ 
proved agricultural district. Of course his knowledge 
of farming was extremly limited, and if, by any accident, 
he had been obliged to cultivate the soil for a subsistence, 
he would have had everything in regard to it to learn, 
and must have pursued his vocation under great difficul¬ 
ties, whereas if he had learned the theory previously, the 
practice could be much easier attained. The ignorance 
of some of our citizens in regard to all that appertains to 
agriculture would seem astonising to those not acquainted 
with their mode of life. A theoretical* knowledge of 
agriculture certainly cannot be incompatible with the 
location of any individual. Such great changes are con¬ 
tinually taking place, that the city gentleman may in a 
few years be the proprietor of some quarter section in a 
remote district, where his knowledge of ledgers and 
stocks would avail him nothing in gaining a livelihood 
“ by the sweat of his brow.” And the city belle of to¬ 
day, may be in after life an obscure individual in some 
back settlement, placed in circumstances in which she 
would give aH"her knowledge of polkas and pianos, if 
she knew how to make butter and cheese. 
But the worst feature of the case is, that there is so 
much ignorance among farmers themselves, even in re¬ 
gard to the most important part of their business. And 
they seem contented to remain in ignorance. Many plead 
want of time for their inattention to the means of ac¬ 
quiring knowledge, when they spend hour after hour, in 
idleness or foolish gossip with their neighbors. A mis¬ 
taken notion prevails to a great extent, that the boy when 
he finishes his school education is done with books, and 
must lay them aside for the implements of his business. 
It is certainly unwise to be so much engaged in labor as 
to find no time to read and study. Some time every day 
should be spent in reading something that will inform and 
strengthen the mind. And the mind should be trained 
to habits of thought and study, so that the information 
picked up here and there, may be appropriated, and re¬ 
sult in good to the individual. This is not only a privi¬ 
lege that all may have, but it is a duty that all should 
perform. 
With some it seems to be preposterous to pretend to 
be u wiser than their fathers were.” The system of cul¬ 
tivation that has been handed down from father to son, 
will admit of no improvement, and must be pursued with¬ 
out any variation. They cannot get out of the old beaten 
track, but follow in the footsteps of their predecessors 
with a devotion scarcely equaled, and the same results 
follow,—deterioration of the soil, though in the first in¬ 
stance it was not so readily seen, as they cultivated a 
rich soil, that was not so easily worn out. 
Again, the opinions of some men when once fixed in 
the mind, are to them as u unalterable as the laws of the 
Medes and Persians.” And they will take their course 
in the management of their business, though reason and 
common sense should be disregarded. Such persons 
know too much to learn, and are ever ready to applaud 
or condemn the actions of others, according as they agree 
or disagree with their own ideas. But it is not enough 
that knowledge be acquired, that the individual be in¬ 
telligent and well informed. It is of great importance to 
be able to adapt knowledge to circumstances, and to act 
understandingly and with judgment in the performance 
of business. 
In the agricultural community there seems to be a 
lack of faith as to the good effects of reading and study. 
They do not see the necessity of it. And contented with 
their limited information, there is nothing to stimulate 
them to make efforts to obtain more knowledge. And 
the mercenary spirit that prevails to a great extent is op¬ 
posed to intellectual progress. Many seem to think that 
it will do them no good,—dollars and cents being their 
standard of value,—to read an Agricultural Journal, and 
a dollar spent for that purpose is considered as thrown 
away. Others limit their means of information to a 
weekly political paper, and they cannot afford any more. 
The acquisition of agricultural knowledge should be at¬ 
tended to first by the farmer, but the means for general 
information should not be neglected, and farmers, as a 
class, should be well informed, for they have as much 
leisure time at their command as any other class of citi¬ 
zens. 
If the young farmers of the present day would pursue 
their vocation more successfully than their fathers did, 
they must attend to the means of information, and not 
dissipate their mental energies in frivolous amusements, 
or in reading the trashy 11 yellow covered literature,” 
that is scattered over the land, contaminating and cursing 
all that are interested in it. And there are, happily, indi¬ 
cations that the next generation will avail themselves of 
all the means in their reach, to increase in knowledge. 
The circulation of agricultural periodicals and the sale 
of agricultural books, is a sign of progress, and though 
it is comparatively the few and not the many that are 
interested, yet important results are effected and great 
good accomplished. W. L. Eaton. Nashua, N. H. 
Moisture by Beep Plowing. —P. Morris says in the 
Farm Journal, that he broke up a stiff sod for corn, with 
a heavy plow drawn by four oxen. A subsoil plow fol¬ 
lowed, running down six or seven inches deeper. The 
whole work was so thoroughly performed, that a stick 
could be thrust down into the loose earth, in almost any 
part of the field, to a depth of fifteen inches. The sum¬ 
mer was excessively dry, pastures were burnt and bare, 
and tillage crops suffered severely. But the corn on the 
subsoiled land continued green and luxuriant throughout 
the season. 
