The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1874-12-26
THE YOUNG MAN AND THE FARM.

EuWaru d. w lchSOli, AUiItuIlutai
Editor of the Utica HERALD, delivered
an address with the above title, at the
Central New York Fair, characterized
by good sense, and unusual grace and
finish in style. We copy few of the
closing paragraphs as follows:
Il believe that agriculture will be
The science of the future. The nourish-
ing of a growing world demands it,
and the possibilities of the industry
court the widest expansion and i'm
provement of its processes. A hundred
learned men are laying yard sticks upon
the winds of heaven: they are testing
every changing atmosphere with the
subtle balance of the mercury they are
foretelling the approaches of the shower
and the tempest, and learning the con-
dilons which invite the rainfall Agri-
culture waits impatiently to make their
science its own \ hundred learned
men are attacking the mysteries Of life,
in the hope that the monad will be
before them visible as a mountain. and
that the vital processes of growth and
VIII ' ltli ii hhoN i''SS VI
their secret laws. Agriculture waits to
turn the fullest light of biology upon
the growth, productions, and improve
ments of her flock and herd. \ hum
drcd learned men are piercing the mys
tcrics of vegetable growth with lenses.
test tubes, and upon experimental farms.
AgrcultuIcpoints to detcriorating soils,
and cries: Let the magic Of Your
chemistry turn this wilderness into a
fruitful field.
With the advance of farming as a
science, will come better opinion of
the farmers position among men,
Every year intelligence and true success
are winning wider recognition in social
circles. Among old opinions which
must vanish, is the popular view that
farmer is outside the line of social
and political advancement This opin-
ion, although it has been widely held,
has always been fallacv, mistake of
narrow minds The young men are
blinded by it. They have left farms
because this cross-evcd view of life has
been forced upon them by foolish people
They have been persuaded that deser-
ton Of the farm was an entrance to
glory. How great an error this has
been. All history gives the lie to such
belief
\ man upon the farm is not out Of
the world as some would think. How
far an occasion can reach to grasp its
hero | do not know But believe that
when the saving of his country demand
ed the strong arm Of CincinnatuS be
was just as near when behind his pillow
as though, a graduated farmer, he had
been sporting purple robes in the forum.
And | believe that when the old Con
tinentals of New England called their
leader. Putnam heard their call Just as
distinclv upon his farm as though he
had been serving for twenty years be
hind counter in Hartford | do not
believe that man is buried upon n
farm 1t seems to me that all history
teaches US that the promptings of duty
and the call to greatness are no louder
in crowded thoroughfares than in coun-
try lanes fringcd with daisies.
The young man and the farm on
the one hand a duty, on the other an
opportunity; here an obligation, there
way to discharge it. And iii think
ing Of the duty of the Young man. is
it not encouraging that he need not
leave the industry where he finds it, and
that he, himself. as he fits himself for a
better farmer, becomes also better
man? This the labor; this the reward
The better the man, the more noble his
calling. The young men can make ag-
riculture what they will: it offers full
returns for their best efforts The coun-
try needs better men, and the best men
will he honorcd in its service. The
hest man in the enc will win, and he
will reach the reward for his excellence
it matters not whether, departing, he
puts up the bars behind him, or whether
he comes from marble doorstep. The
youth may become a man upon the farm
if he will. lie can do no more else
where