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in more instances than any other class of men. Cases are rare to be sure 
where they have become suddenly rich, and from the nature of their 
business, this must be so ; but let them use the same amount of head- 
work that the merchant or mechanic is obliged to, or fail in business, 
and then sej in whose favor the scale turns in the long run. Is it not true 
that a majority of farmers act as if they thought that all that was ne¬ 
cessary to raise a crop was to put the seed in some way into, or partly 
into, the ground, and then wait for Providence to furnish the harvest? 
Allow me here to put another question. Why is it that a few among 
you thrive so abundantly and get rich so fast, without seeming to make 
any great effort, while the greater portion remain about so so, raising 
enough to live upon, and not much, if any more ? Is it all luck and 
Providence ? Does not the same beneficent Being “ send rain upon the 
just and upon the unjust V* In seeking for the solution of these queries 
you will be likely to find that the man who makes farming his study— 
who reads agricultural papers and strives to profit thereby, who investi¬ 
gates the nature of soils and endeavors to adapt his crops to those best 
suited to them respectively, who cultivates a variety of products, that 
he may secure at least some good ones, and last but not least who bears 
in mind the old almanac saying— 
“ He who oy the plough would thrive, 
Himedf must either hold or drive,” 
( 
is the man who always has a little change in his pocket and every now 
and then adds a forty or eighty to his already capacious farm. 
Travellers passing through the western country make the remark that 
we cultivate no fruit; and there is truth in the remark, for compared 
with what we should, we indeed cultivate no fruit. No more profitable 
crop can be raised, and yet because it takes a few years to perfect an or¬ 
chard, or a vineyard, few undertake it. Living as the farmers of Racine 
county do, where fruit of all kinds may be taken to market, ripe, fresh, 
and as fine as when hanging on its native branches, and with the near 
prospect of access by railroads to several good fruit markets, the culture 
of fruit demands their great attention. The present season has done 
much to demonstrate that this is truly a fruit climate, and that ours is a 
fruit soil. More beautiful peaches, apples, pears, plums, grapes, cher¬ 
ries and other fruits cannot be found than have been grown this season 
