ide of the barn. The rain and sun make it nicer to handle. The
cattle have to go some distance for water; and this gives them exercise.
All of the cattle are not kept in the stable; the fattening stock are
kept in the various fields, where hay is fed out to them from the stack.
The barn-yard is often occupied by cattle, and is covered with their
manure, which lies there until it is carted on to the land. In the shed
are the tools of the farm, consisting of carts, plows--not deep plows,
this farmer thinks it best to have roots near the surface of the soil
where they can have the benefit of the sun's heat,--a harrow, hoes,
rakes, etc. These tools are all in good order; and, unlike those of his
less prudent neighbor, they are protected from the weather.

The crops are cultivated with the plow, and hoe, as they have been since
the land was cleared, and as they always will be until this man dies.

Here is the 'practical farmer' of the present day. Hard working, out of
debt, and economical--of dollars and cents, if not of soil and manures.
He is a better farmer than two thirds of the three millions of farmers
in the country. He is one of the best farmers in his town--there are but
few better in the county, not many in the State. He represents the
better class of his profession.

With all this, he is, in matters relating to his business, an unreading,
unthinking man. He knows nothing of the first principles of farming, and
is successful by the _indulgence_ of nature, not because he understands
her, and is able to make the most of her assistance.

This is an unpleasant fact, but it is one which cannot be denied. We do
not say this to disparage the farmer, but to arouse him to a realization
of his position and of his power to improve it.

But let us see where he is wrong.

He is wrong in thinking that his land does not need draining. He is
wrong in being satisfied with one and a half tons of hay to the acre
when he might easily get two and a half. He is wrong in not removing as
far as possible every stone that can interfere with the deep and
thorough cultivation of his soil. He is wrong in reaping less than his
father did, when he should get more. He is wrong in ascribing to the
weather, and similar causes, what is due to the actual impoverishment of
his soil. He is wrong in not raising turnips, carrots, and other roots,
which his winter stock so much need, when they might be raised at a cost
of less than one third of their