and agreeable combination of labor with cultivated thought, as
agriculture. I know nothing so pleasant to the mind as the discovery
of anything that is at once new and valuable--nothing that so
lightens and sweetens toil as the hopeful pursuit of such discovery.
And how vast and how varied a field is agriculture for such
discovery! The mind, already trained to thought in the country
school, or higher school, cannot fail to find there an exhaustless
source of enjoyment. Every blade of grass is a study; and to produce
two where there was but one is both a profit and a pleasure. And not
grass alone. but soils, seeds, and seasons--hedges, ditches, and
fences--draining, droughts, and irrigation--plowing, hoeing, and
harrowing--reaping, mowing, and threshing--saving crops, pests of
crops, diseases of crops, and what will prevent or cure
them--implements, utensils, and machines, their relative merits, and
how to improve them--hogs, horses, and cattle--sheep, goats and
poultry--trees, shrubs, fruits, plants, and flowers--the thousand
things of which these are specimens--each a world of study within
itself.

"'In all this book learning is available. A capacity and taste for
reading gives access to whatever has already been discovered by
others. It is the key, or one of the keys, to the already solved
problems. And not only so; it gives a relish and facility for
successfully pursuing the unsolved ones. The rudiments of science
are available, and highly available. Some knowledge of botany
assists in dealing with the vegetable world--with all growing crops.
Chemistry assists in the analysis of soils, selection and
application of manures, and in numerous other ways. The mechanical
branches of natural philosophy are ready help in almost everything,
but especially in reference to implements and machinery.