 Furthermore, knowledge or ignorance in agriculture, or the skill or lack of skill greatly affects a country’s profit and loss. Therefore, I say, “agriculture is the foundation of the country”, because it is an industry which cannot be neglected. Yet, the general tendency is that there are few skilled agriculturalists and many unskilled farmers. This is precisely because there are no expert agricultural teachers. If those lords (ryōshu) issued orders, and selected agriculturalists knowledgeable about horticulture and appointed them as agricultural teachers who educated those unskilled farmers, this would surely contribute to that national profit. (KH: 292)