Year: 1872

possessions.


To subdue the earth then, gentlemen, to
wrest the countless forces of nature to our
use is not only our exalted privilege, but
our most important duty, and whoever thus
regards his work, Of whatever kind it may
be, to whatever sphere of labor he may be
called, must feel himself and his labors enno-
bled, must feel indeed that he only who
rests in inactivity while the conflict is being
waged should be subject of universal scorn
rather than envy; indeed must be, if my
exegesis Of this passage is correct, only an OBJ
ject of divine wrath You see, gentlemen,
that in this schedule there is room fol- every
body butloafers. This grand army of which L
have spoken needs recruits in every branch Of
its service no one need feel that his services
are not demanded. But these great results
are granted only as the reward of labor
honorable, health-giving labor "a labor
which entered into with this spirit digni6es
the laborer; labor 80 rich in its rewards,
so benefcent in its ultimate results the utili-
zation of natural forces and making them
subserve the interests of civilization, lifting
from our burdened humanity one after an
other Of her cares, until, indeed, at the last
she stands victorious conqueror, holding
all nature in subsection, freed from the heavy
burden of the primal curse.


To those of US engaged in this contest it is
a most comforting assurance to feel that all
the forces of nature are brought under per-
feet law, nothing accidental, nothing fortui-
tOus, but everything linked closely together
in relations of cause and effect The timely
rains the gentle dews, the protecting mantle
OF snow, the seasons in their unvarying sue.
cession, seed time and harvest, everything in
nature obedient to law; not a seed germin-
ates, not blade of grass springs up but in
strict obedience to law no less rigid than
that Of gravitation. In accordance with
these laws whoever works may be certain of
ultimate and speedy success against those
stern DEGREES whoever dares to venture,
must do so at his peril. In the physical no
less than in the moral world, it is true, that
whoever through ignorance or wickedness
shall place himself upon the wrong side,
shall find arrayed against him in solid phal-
anx, all the forces of nature. Against him
untimely frosts and winters SHOWS upon him
the thunderbolts of heaven shall be hurled +;
from him the generous earth shall withhold
her fruits, until at the last, it shall be said of
that one as sang that mother of Israel over
the destruction Of the enemy OF the Lord 4:
"Thc stars IN their courses fought against
Sisera :"


1t is gratifying fact that whoever gives
himself unselfshly to the work of beneftting
his race is sure of his ultimate reward in
tie honor and esteem of his fellowmen if not
in pecuniary recompense, and yet so strong are
existing prejudices and existing ideas, so
immovable the inertia and conservatism of
ignorance, that one needs to be buoyed up by
a consciousness Of the greatness of the bless
ings he would confer. Few, indeed, have
stepped aside from the beaten path over
which humanity has plodded, in the hope of
finding a surer and shorter path, and car
ried with them the sympathies of those for
whom they have labored. And yet there
are those who, confident of ultimate success,
have bravely endured coldness and estrange-
ment, cruel criticism, heartless ridicule and
contumely, at last to go to their reward
heavily laden with the honors which slowly
grateful people have heaped upon them.
Many years ago a German farmer boy began
an agricultural crusade, going about from town
to town preaching the gospel of Clover He
made himself the missionary of clover culture
throughout all Germany, and spent twenty
five years of his life travelling and demonstra-
ting the agricultural value of clover as a
fer'ilizing crop. At first laughed at and
pronounced clover-mad, he had the satisiac-
ton, at last, at the close of his life, of seeing
his views triumphant, and a grateful govern.
ment, wishing to add its testimonial to his in-
valuable services, lifted him into the ranks Of
its nobility, where he chose as his title a
name which in English signifies The
Knight of the Glover Field" Other honors
no less marked await any one who shall thus
bless the world. Pecuniary rewards have
been frequent and large, which grateful
people have heaped upon their benefactors
Take from our farming community the inn
proved methods of the past twenty-five years,
and it would be difficult to see how subsist.
ance even, conld be provided. Other inter-
ests have withdrawn so many Of our young
men from the pursuits of agriculture, that il
is now only by an intelligent organization Of
labor, skilful application Of brute force
to those tasks once performed by manual
labor exclusively, that their accomplishment
it possibility even. Intelligence, then,
must be the motto in the future, for so many
new questions are arising that without it
their solution is impossible and failure must
result.


Less than forty years ago the question
was asked, and a prize was offered for a sat,
isiactory answer whether mineral food was
necessary to the life of a plant. To-day
hundreds of thousands of tons of superphos
pilates, lime, plaster, guGnC, bone dust and
other mineral fertilizers fill our markets and
command ready sales Millions of money
represent the capital employed in their pro
ductiOn. Upon the solution of this question
not farmer in Vermont, not farmer il
Ohristendom but depends for his success and
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