The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1912-02-08
T--ss".-~Ht - : 3" f.
Lincoln on Agriculture

~ - S"hS III
labor to produce fifty bushels of
wheat from an acre than it will to
produce ten bushels from the same
acre: but will it take more labor to
produce fifty bushels from one acre
than from five? Unquestionably
thorough cultivation will require
more labor to the acre; but will it
require more to the bushel? If it
should require just as much to the
bushel, there are some probable. and
several certain, advantages in favor
of the thorough practice. 1t is prob
able it would develop those unknown
causes which of late years have cut
down our crops below their former
average. 1t is almost certain, |
think, that by deeper blowing, analy-
sis Of the soils, experiments with
manures and varieties of seeds, OBJ
servance of seasons and the like,
these causes would be discovered and
remedied. 1t is certain that thor
ough cultivation would spare half,
Or more than half, the cost of the
land, simply because the product
could be got from half, or from less
han half, the quantity Of land. This
proposition is ~self-evident, and can
be made no palmer by repetitions or
illustrations. The cost Of land is a
and it constantly grows greater and
greater, in comparison with other
tens, as the country grows older.
mo other human occupation opens
so wide a field for the profitable and
agreeable combination of labor with
cultivated thought, as agriculture. ]
know nothing so pleasant to the
mind as the discovery of anything
hat is at ono new and valuable
nothing so lightens and sweetens
toll as the hopeful pursuit of such
discovery. And how vast and how
varied a field is agriculture for such
4 discovery! The mind already train
ed to thought in the country school.
or higher school, cannot fail to find
there an exhaustless source of enjoy
ment. Every blade Of grass is !;
study; and to produce two where
there was but one is both a profit
and a pleasure. And not grass alone
out soils, seeds and seasons--hedges.
bitches, fences, draining, droughts
and irrigation; blowing, hoeing and
narrowing; reaping, moving and
threshing; saving crops, pests of
crops, disease of crops, and what will
prevent or cure them; implements.
Utensils and machines and their rel
ative merits, and how to improve
hem; hogs, horses and cattle; sheep
goats and poultry; trees, shrubs,
fruits, plants and flowers; the thou
sand things of which these are speci-
nens-each a world of study within
tself.
"1n all this book learning is avail
able. A capacity and taste for read
ng gives access to whatever has,
been discovered by others. 1t is the
key, or one of the keys, to the al
ready solved problems. And not
only so. 1t gives relish and facility
for successfully pursuing the I'M
solved ones. The rudiments of
science are available, and highly
available. Some knowledge of bot
any assists in dealing with the vege-
table world-with all growing crops.
Chemistry assists in the analysis of
the soils, selection and application
Of manures and in other
ways. The mechanical branches of
natural philosophy are ready help in
almost everything, especially in ref
erence to implements and machinery.
"The thought occurs that educa-
tion-cultivated thought-can best
be combined with agricultural labor,
on the principle of thorough work:
that careless, half performed, SLOW
emily work makes no place for such
combination; and thorough work
again, renders sufficient the smallest
quantity of ground to each man, n
this again conforms to what must
occur in a world less inclined to
wars and more devoted to the arts
OF peace than heretofore. Population
must increase rapidly, more RAPIDLY
than in former times, and ere LONG
the most valuable Of all arts will be
the art of deriving a comfortable
subsistence from the smallest area
of soil. No community whose every
member possesses this art, can ever
be the victim of oppression in any Of
it's forms. Such community will be
alike independent of crowned kings.
money kings and land kings"
Extract from an address delivered
by President Lincoln at Milw,uEo,