Year: 1870

AANA r - AAF


II the best farm in America, with all
its fences, gates roadways, brains,
ploughs, horses, cattle, sheep and
swine, were left TO tie unguided course
81 nature, very few years would suf-
fec to reduce it to tho condition Of a
wilderness occupied by wild animals r.
No matter how great the capital invest
cd, how great the fertility, nor how ex-
eollent all the appliances, he simple
Withdrawal Of judicious control would
result in the practical destruction OF
the whole concern.


To get this machine in motion, and
to keep it working proftably and in
good order, it is necessary that an in
telligent man guide all Of its opera
tions, and the proposition will not be
disputed that the more intelligent the
man might be, the more perfect and
the more profitable will be the result
II the man were himself merely an ami
nal, nothing would be gained by his
presence, something perhaps might be
lost, for as an animal his instincts are
inferior to those of creatures OF q lower
grade.


Brains, then, the ability TO enforce
tho results Of thought, are what elevate
the farmer above the level Of his cattle,
and enable him to control the manner
in which they and his land together
shall bring about the result that he de-
sires and setting aside all Rstheical
and philosophical questions connected
with the human intellect, we may, for
practical purposoa, consider the farm-
er's brains purely in the light Of an ag-
ricultural implement, since it is their
operation, more than that Of his
| ploughs and teams, and more, even,
than the fetility Of his soil, which
brings about the result that he seeks.
In the olden times the land was then
| ploughed with a forked stick, drawn
sometimes by COW and woman yok-
cd together. But in tho bost modern
practice, gangs Of half dozen ploughs
drawn across the field by the power Of
steam are found necessary to the most
successful cultivation. In the various
other combinations Of wood and iron
which are employed in agricultural OPP
erations, an almost equal improvement
has taken place : and far be il from us
to say that the chief machine Of all,
that inyents and guides the action OF
these Improvements has stood still ;
but we submit, with due Difference, that
in many,if not even in a majority Of in
stances, tho last tool which the farmer
has thought it worth while to impIeye
is one which the first and greatest inn
proyement should have been made


The intellectual condition Of farmers
is a result Of the operation Of natural
causes, with which we do not propose
to quarrel Probably farmers have on
the average during the last two OF
three thousand years, advance in in.
telligenee and enterprise quite as much
as the circumstances by which they
were surrounded permitted or required
them to do. All that we now suggest
is, that another influence be brought tc
bear on the subject, and that by por-
sistent advocacy Of the need for more
KNOWLEDGE and more intelligence in the
cultivation Of the soil, by hosping o.
Zine upon line and precept upon pre-
cept," it be demonstrated, so far ai
possible, that it is absolutely necessary
for the better farming that must pre-.
vail in the not far distant future, thai
the improvement Of the great machine
~ by which the farmers success is e
DO wrought out be considered d tht
first Importance. The day Is rapid,
passing away when simple following
Of the practices Of ancestors and o
tolerably successful neighbors Should
established the standard By which th'
farmer is to regulate bis labors hnc
even as the inachunic ayails himsel
with alacrity Of every improvement thai
bears even remotely on his occupation
and as the man Of science eagerly seek
for every record Of new step in ad
vance as the merchant now makes
that use Of the telegraph, railroad sne
steamship which lie formerly did o
stage coaches and canal-boats 30 tbs
farmer, always keen IN watching th'
rise and fall oi markets, must arous'
himself 10 q quick perception Of every
thing that science, mechanics or com
meree can offer, which may tend, eyei
in & alight degree, 10 increase lis crops
10 eoOnomiss their use and improve hi
! soil