Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1879-10-02


much education or intelligence to make a
good farmer. then it is proper that farm work
should be left to clowns and ignoramuses.
The farmer needs especially scientific edu.
cation. Science has done much for man.
She has launched huge leviathans that press
their seething course through the pillows in
spite Of wind and tide, and whtened every
sea with the snowy wings of commerce.
She rolls her vans loaded with merchandise
in lightning rapidity across continents. She
has rihed the mountains Of their treasures of
iron and coal. She has struck the rocks with
her potent wand and they pour out rivers Of
oil. She seeks the veins of silver, and finds
the hidden deposits of gold She has taught
man to spin and to weave with tireless activ.
ity, and to sew with fingers of steel. She
has shaped the husbandman's pillow and grant
ed to him dainty implements and mighty en-
ginery for his toll, taught the shepherd to re-
joice in the finer feeces of his flock, and
show n the herdsman how to exult in superior
breeds of cattle. She gives Flora roses of
brighter bloom and loads Pomona with more
delicious fruits. Ceres invokes her aid to
bless mankind, and to fill the horn of plenty.
These are her material triumphs. Science
does more; her revelations excite the power
of observation and quicken sense and percep-
ton; her laws exercise the judgment and
imagination for loftier flight; her truths ex-
pand the soul. She touches the hand of la
Dor and il deals the heavier blow and more
wisely directs its force; but she stops not
here, her electric throb thrills the nerves,
arouses the intellect, warns the heart and
brings the creature into more direct com
munion with the Creator. Conscious of his
own worth the educated man is raised to q
higher plane of thought and to a nobler
sphere of action; his pleasures are more re-
fined, his joys more lasting, his triumphs
more rational and his character more eleva-
ted.
But thorough scientific education is nee
essary for highest success in farming. When
the country was new and the recently cleared
land contained vast deposit of all that is
necessary for plant development, but little
skill was necessary to produce good crop.
All that was required was to tickle the land
with hoe and it would laugh with a harvest.
Now the reluctant earth will yield the most
scanty returns, unless science aids the cult
vator. Agriculture is a science. There are
some principles already well established. and
others which are yearly coming into more
clear light, while some of these principles
are just emerging from the chaotic mass of
conflicting experiments. These principles
apply to the growth of useful plants, the rails
of farm products, and other theories of vital
interest to the farmer. Among established
principles in raising crops, LIST. Is the great
law ofcompensation, that the elements taken
from the soil must be restored. I'd. That
substances may act efficiently as fertilizers
that do not directly furnish any plant food.
Sd. That without proper application the most
valuable part of the manures NAV be lost.
A liberal education is essential to the high
est enjoyment of the farmer Whatever de-
velopes the mind increases the power of en-
joyment. For the noblest pleasure is the
joy of intelligent success-in being near to
the counsels Of the Creator by knowing his
laws in nature and conforming our action to
these laws. Working in the glad sunshine,
watching thewonders reproduction and growth,
availing ourselves of the hidden forces which
the skilled hand and trained intellect alone
can WELD, and learning new triumphs over
matter and motion. we have grand fund of
true enjoyment. True science is needed to
shield the farmer from the fallacies and de-
ceptions of arrogant pretenders, who in the
name or science would palm off their empty
pretenses. \ cultivated mind does not lose
its power of activity and enjoyment in the de-
cay of bodily vigor. A serene old age, may
reasonably be expected by the well educated,
intelligent and successful farmer, who in the
remembrance of productive life looks for
ward through the merits of the Redeemer TO
glorious harvest home.