234 WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
machine, because his neighbor has them, and he is not willing to 
be outdone; and even if he has not the money on hand to pay for 
them, he is almost always too ready to listen to the syren song of 
the insinuating agent for the sale of those implements ; and is, not 
unfrequently, persuaded to load himself down with debt, for that 
he might have done without; trusting to the, perhaps doubtful, 
luck of the future to be able to pay when the debt becomes due. 
A large proportion of the embarrassment of the farming com¬ 
munity arises in this way, when by a little kindly reciprocity 
among neighbors, none need have felt the want of these imple¬ 
ments. 
But, worst of all is the fact, that when these costly machines 
have been obtained, they have not reasonable care given to their 
preservation. Instead of seeing them propeily housed for the 
winter after harvest, and well greased and oiled to preserve them 
against the ravages of rust and decay, they are left in the field 
without any cover, exposed to the sun, the wind and the rain, 
from the close of one season to the beginning of the next. The 
expensive paint, of course, scales off, the seams open, joints be¬ 
come loosened, the iron oxidizes, and finally a machine which, 
with proper care and attention bestowed upon it, would have done 
good service for eight or ten years, is thrown aside utterly ruined 
and worthless after its second or third season. A friend of mine 
told me last winter, that in traveling from Madison to Waterloo— 
a distance of thirty miles—he counted sixty odd reapers winter¬ 
ing in the open Geld. Could the farmers of any other country 
practice such unthrift and escape starvation ? 
I have already alluded to our schools, and the many convenient 
means of affording an education to our youth of both sexes. It 
has sometimes occurred to me that the facilities for education were 
too numerous, and to be obtained too easily. Mankind is so 
strangely constituted that we value only those things that are 
difficult to acquire; and that which can be had for the asking, is 
seldom esteemed very highly. The young man who does not 
have to struggle for an education rarely realizes its true value, and 
thus too many come to misapprehend the true object of education. 
The cunning hand and the cultured brain should be taught to 
work together, and in harmony with one another ; and, as a long 
