ANNUAL REPORT. 
33 
with other vocations, except it takes advantage of practical and 
scientific knowledge, and disseminates their teachings among the 
masses. They who till the soil and work the mine are laying the 
foundation upon which all other avocations must build, and the 
greater the profits arising from these primary pursuits, the broader 
and more substantial will be that foundation. Prof. G. C. Swallow, 
Dean of the Agricultural College of Missouri, gives some sensible 
advice to agriculturists, a few pertinent sentences, of which I here 
quote: 
“ If the farmers of the country are ever to realize the objects 
sought by the patrons of husbandry, they must give their children 
more practical education, more thorough knowledge of the sciences j 
on which their labors rest, and a more accurate understanding of 
the studies which fit them for public life. These colleges were 
founded to meet this want, and elevate the profession. 
“If the farmer would make his son a faithful laborer, give him 
an education that will fit him for it, and make his work honorable, 
in his own opinion at least. If he would make his son a skillful 
cultivator, let him learn the reasons for culture and the sciences 
upon which it is based, and the mechanics which make it easy. If 
the farmer would make his son a rich harvester, let him study the 
sciences by which large, cheap crops are made. If the farmer 
would make his son a successful and influential husbandman, let 
him study those practical truths about farming which come from 
the experience of all the farmers from Adam to Harris. 
“The Agricultural Colleges are the husbandman’s colleges, and he 
should patronize them. If they do not suit him, he should make 
them suit him, for ‘they are his to make and his to break.’ If the 
patrons would remedy the defects of the body politic, let them edu¬ 
cate their sons to be good farmers, and not to be professional men, 
merchants or speculators. Give the tastes for the country, and not 
for the city. If they believe it necessary to combine for the pro¬ 
tection of their interests, they must feel it necessary to strengthen 
their own cause rather than that of their opponents. Every well 
educated young man you keep on the farm gives the good cause 
the very best aid for life, and every man you send to the city gives 
the same aid to the opposing forces. 
“ Is it too much to say that he is not a good patron who gives his 
sons to other professions? 
3 —A 
