periment upon it, do with it and what you get from it as you please, but keep a strict account with it, and from year to year, see not only what you have learned of farming, but how stands the matter of profit and loss. To say nothing of what an incentive this would be to effort, what a spur to youthful ambition, how better could the young man be taught prudence and thrift, while at the same time he was gaining golden knowledge of his art? And thus from this one lot let the same system be applied to all, to the whole farm, whenever he comes to have one of his own. But I was referring to the subject in a more limited view, to the accounts which a farmer should keep of his pecuniary transactions-of his bargains, and purchases, and sales, his dealings with the world. I feel that I have a right to speak of this with some degree of confidence, because it is a matter with which my own professional experience has made me somewhat familiar. I have known instances, and they have not been infrequent, where a farmer, forced to go into court, has been unable to prove an honest demand, simply from his inability to produce an account-book which would meet the casy requirements of the law, and who, besides losing his case, and having to pay a heavy bill of costs to his fraudulent debtor, has gone home mortified at the thought that his neighbors would believe he was in the wrong and his opponent in the right. The looseness which prevails in this matter strikes every lawyer with astonishment. The usual apology made is, that a farmer's dealings are mainly cash, and that he has little occasion to be particular about his accounts. This is comparatively true. But while a farmer is to be encouraged in never buying but for cash, there are times when in selling he must accommodate his neighbor with credit. And so, in this and other ways, it happens that there is not a week, hardly a day in the year, in which there should not be some. memorandum made, some charge, some credit, something in the end involving dollars and cents. It is no book-keeping by double entry, no complicated system of accounts that is required. The law in this respect is liberal. An old barn door,

with its chalk scores, unhung and brought into court, would be allowed to justify a suppletory oath. But barn doors and kitchen ceilings are unsafe and clumsy journals. Paper and pen and ink are much more trustworthy and quite as convenient. All that is wanted is ordinary penmanship, a knowledge of the simplest rules of arithmetic, and that habit of punctuality which will record the transaction at the time of its occurrence. If the farmer is advanced in years, and his hands cramped by toil, let him use the nimbler fingers of his wife or daughter, only let him have the account kept. But let his son, when he begins farming, start fair in this respect, and accustom himself to keep his accounts regularly and correctly. It will not only save him money, it will save him much annoyance, vexation and strife. It may be said that this is a small matter. Be it so. "Take care of the little things, and the large ones will take care of themselves," or, as the tradesman has it, and he knows the value of poor Richard's maxim, "Take care of the pence, and the pounds will take care of themselves." It has been said by good authority, "More profit is made on a farm from trifles than from the large crops." The sooner the young man learns this invaluable lesson, the better will be his chances of success. The Dutch have a proverb, "No one is ever ruined who keeps good accounts." They will not only enable a man to understand his whole affairs, and avoid being cheated, but their moral effect is important;-they prevent habits of irregularity, procrastination and indolence; they induce habits of order, promptness and industry.

Among those things which attract the attention of an outside observer, there is no one which so excites his surprise as the indifference manifested by farmers in availing themselves of the aids furnished to successful culture by improved instruments of labor and by modern scientific research. Although as to the former, there has, of late years, been a great and growing change, and men who but recently looked with distrust and aversion upon what they called new-fangled inventions, will now cheerfully use, and, if they cannot afford to buy, will hire

one and another of those valuable labor-saving implements, which are doing so much to facilitate the operations of the farm, yet there is still room for progress. In this matter the young farmer should begin with the right ideas. While he listens to the advice of his elders, and pays due respect to their example as well as precept, he should guard against becoming the slave of old prejudices, and should observe, and judge, and act for himself. To say that because his father before him managed to cut and cure and get in his hay with a scythe and fork and hand-rake, therefore there is no need of his using a mowing-machine, a tedder, or a horse-rake, is just as absurd as it would be for him never to ride in a rail-car, wear a cloth coat, or eat flour bread, because his grandfather jogged along on horseback, was comfortable in linsey-woolsey, and didn't starve on rye and Indian. Of course he must exercise prudence and caution, and neither go beyond his means nor lightly adopt every new contrivance, simply because it is new. on the other hand, let him studiously avoid that spirit of distrust which looks with suspicion upon every departure from old usage. Let him, with eyes wide open to see, and mind. open to conviction, carefully observe and narrowly watch, and then adopt whatever full experiment by individuals or associations has proved to be advantageous and profitable.

But

I spoke of scientific research. I have no disposition at this late stage to exhaust your kind patience with a disquisition on scientific farming. But let me say, that we lookers-on cannot understand this prejudice which exists among farmers against the application of science to agriculture. Why, what is agriculture but a science, both a science and an art, whose birth was coeval with the birth of man, whose growth has been measured by the progress of civilization, and whose perfection will not be attained till the race shall have reached its millenial state. Every manufactory has its chemist, every art and trade modifies and adapts its operations to come within the sphere of new discoveries and fresh developments. If a shipwright builds a vessel, if a carpenter frames a house, if a miner embowels the

earth, if a tanner turns skins into leather, if a machinist makes a steam engine, if a cunning workman fabricates and puts together a watch, if an optician constructs a telescope, the last disclosure of science guides his hand and moulds his workand why should not the farmer bring, to alleviate his hard toil, and make more exuberant the fruits of his labor, whatever aid science as well as art can furnish? There is a wide distinction between fancy and scientific farming. A man comes into the country from city or college, and sets out to be a model agriculturalist. He buys a place, pulls down all the old structures and builds a small palace. He erects a greenhouse, and hennery, and piggery, and buildings for his cattle, which surpass in their appointments the habitations of decent people around him. He imports at fabulous prices foreign stock which he knows not how to use or raise. He buys whatever in the way of implements or tools is advertised as new, without knowing whether they are good or bad. And then he gets his books, and without previous experience, and spurning the advice of old cultivators, he sets up for a gentleman farmer. For a year or two he runs on swimmingly, makes a great figure, throws into the shade his humble competitors, and then, as might have been expected, he miserably fails, and a sheriff's auction closes the scene. And his neighbors cry out, "So much for your scientific farming!" It is no such thing. It is fancy farming. Now look upon another picture. A gentleman (he may or may not have had early practical acquaintance with farming, but he has good sense and sound judgment), with resolute mind and purpose, and in gratification of long cherished wishes, devotes his attention and wealth to agriculture. He proceeds carefully and systematically. He has taste, and he makes his place an object of beauty as well as utility. His buildings are ornamental as well as useful. His fences are both handsome and durable. His fields are clean as well as fruitful. If there is an unsightly bog, he reclaims it and makes it fertile. If there are impoverished acres, he studies and experiments, and finds what clements are lacking, and supplies them. If, upon

trial, he ascertains that his lands will not profitably raise certain accustomed crops, he rotates, and finds those which will yield remuneratively. His tools and implements are the best, and therefore the most economical. If the stock upon the farm is poor, he learns by inquiry and research what breeds are most prolific and hardy, best fitted for labor and for market. He eagerly avails himself of the practical experience of those around him, but at the same time he studies books and seeks the aid of science. From geology he learns the origin, nature and composition of soils,-from chemistry to analyze and improve them, the condition requisite for the most perfect growth and maturity of vegetation, and the mode of preparing the best fertilizers, from botany the structure and habits of plants, and what soils and modes of treatment they demand,-from zoology those laws by which the re-production of animals is regulated and their highest perfection attained,—and so, from all the natural sciences he gathers knowledge and applies it in his daily tasks, till complete success crowns his efforts, till the former waste becomes a garden, until what was once a wilderness is made to bud and blossom like the rose. This is the scientific farmer. We have such in this county. We have them in this town. They are efficient officers and members of this society. They have striven hard to promote its welfare and extend its usefulness. They are in our midst here to-day-men whose talents, and wealth, and social position might give them public eminence and honor, but who, as exemplars of progressive agriculture, are doing more good than though they were conspicuous in public councils, or were ruling the storm of debate in legislative halls. Let the young farmer emulate such examples. Let him understand that to keep up with the times, he must read and study,-that to become entirely successful, he must add to industry and economy and toil, science and skill. In no other way can he excel, in no other way can he improve his art and benefit his fellows. Our soil is not only comparatively poor, it is impoverished and worn out. Science and skill, and they alone, can restore its exhausted powers