Practical papers —farm husbandry. 
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animal that has to buffet the storms of a Wisconsin winter, than 
the one which is kept warm. 
But it is as impossible for any man to make farming profitable 
without knowing how, as it is to talk Latin or Greek without 
having been taught. A farmer should have a knowledge of the 
nature of the different soils, their adaptability to the various crops, 
and one who does not know this, as well as times and seasons for 
doing his work, and other mysteries of agriculture, is unfit to be a 
farmer. 
Who, let me ask, has more interest to know how to develop the 
hidden mysteries of the earth, and make them subservient to his 
wants and will than the farmer, and who meets with greater ob¬ 
stacles and difficulties in the pursuit of his calling than the 
farmer? None. Certainly, then, he should be-prepared and 
educated for his mission. I am old enough to remember 
when that foolish heresy was in full blast, that farming was 
so simple that it needed only ignoramuses to carry it on. No 
one ever expected to earn fame by farming. That time has 
passed. Gentlemen, farming is a science as well as'an art. We 
do not now depend upon moonshine for our crops, but upon intel¬ 
ligent culture, careful and deep plowing and carefully husbanded 
resources of all farming operations. I repeat, it is no longer a 
mean, plodding employment. The cultivator of the soil brings 
his inquiring mind into the company of the most wonderful work¬ 
ings of nature in her own almighty workshop, where he has bet¬ 
ter opportunities of acquiring knowledge of the great principles 
which govern animal and vegetable life, than the student has in 
the musty atmosphere of his study. The great volume of nature 
lies open before him, and all its pages invite study and contem¬ 
plation. It shows him that he is a co-worker with that Being who 
said, “let there be light, and there was light.” It teaches him to 
depend upon that providence, coupled with his own industry, for 
success in bringing to maturity the animal and the plant. It ele¬ 
vates the mind, and teaches man to look from nature up to nature’s 
God. 
I said that a farmer should be educated. I feel deeply upon 
this subject, because I feel the want of it. Where I was brought 
up, schools were few and far between. Yery few poor people 
