, 1881-07-06

EVTFTTt III I l I'll
never plowed a furroW or ever loaded or
spread a load of manure on a field, or ever
hoed a hill of corn. If the writer attempts Z
to instruct farmers upon blowing or the
handling of manure, that is another thing,
and he should prove his words by his. W
work. But the knowledge Of the general
principles upon which the proper prac-
tice of these labors is based may be
derived from a mental process, altogether,
and need not require an actual mechani-
cal facility for it. But yet, when we come
to value a mere hand book or manual of
practical work, we consider the actual
practical knowledge of the author or writer
as an important element. And this is
right and proper. i tiftt." s"b0'-
But what a vast amount of knowledge
the farmer requires to become we'll in
structed in his business. If he must find
out the who'e' Of it IN the course of his
own labors, and were competent to do
this, his life would end before he had gone
half through his work. There is not time
enough i'll any mans life to learn what he
needs to know through actual experience
of his own. Fortunately, we have a vast
store of personal experience offered to us
in books which have been written for hun
dredS Of years, and which we nav either
read in the original, or gather the pith of
them i'll newer compilations, or through
the later works OF authors who have silt.
ed them and added much fresh knowledge
to them. In these we have the results of
the laborS and observations Of men whose
aggregate work would require centuries
OF one mans eXertions. In that excellent
work "Fllnts, Grasses, and Forage
Plants,0 for instance, we have a store of
valuable information which conveys to us
in a few minutes the knowledge gained
by 80 years constant and close experiment.
ing and chemical Analysing. And in one
way or another every farmer in America
is benefited by this work, either by read
ing of its results and guiding his practice
by its reading, or by following the exam
pies of farmers who have studied and prac-
ticed for themselves. and in this way
the good effects of all those labOrS actually
benefit persons who never heard of them,
and who. if they knew Of them, might be
so foolish as to ignorantly c0ntemn and
despiSc them as book farming. And it is
the same through the whole literature of
agriculture, which is at once as copiOuS
and thorough and trustworthy as amy
other that relates to q science or q tecAni-
cal art.
Let us consider for a moment the posi-
ton which our country occupies i'll the
world at this Moment. The larger part Of
Europe depends upon us for food and
clothing. Our land is the objective point
of millions of working people from every
country and cline. Half a million of the
best and most thrifty people persons who
have saved by industry and economy the
means of starting life here-leavo foreign
shores and land upon ours each year, and
still the number grows and increases.
Here we have plenty and contentment.
And it is the comfortable and Independent
position of the American farmer and the
Successful practice of American agricull
ture that "draws all men to us" At the
same time, the American farmer is the best
educated and the most intelligent and
enterprising farmer in the world. The
American rural schools are the best and
most numerous of their class, and no other
country Ihas a better system of popular
education. We have more agricultural
papers and books in popular use than all
other countries combined, and more and
cheaper papers and books upon general
subjects In circulation and use than any
other country. Can we doubt that there
is q close connection between these cir
cumstances or that this is tho WI and
that is the effect ? And if -our. agriculture
and our country thrive because of the
intelligence of American farmers, this fact
should forever silence those who have ever
sneered, or might ever sheer, at a book
farmer-NeW YORK. Times.
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