126 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



bring out the talent around the table, so I suppose that T may 

 feel complimented b>' being considered among the talent that is 

 here. Perhaps it is only one talent in my case, however. 1 

 am not quite egotistical enough to think that I have all the tea. 

 It seemed to me while- Dr. Smith was talking that there was 

 just a little note of pessimism in what he said about the 

 ]\Iaine farmer. I cannot quite agree with him in regard to the 

 possibilities of farming in Maine. \\'e all know that farming in 

 the eastern section of the country, in Xew England especially, 

 on these old farms on these hills and on the few plains and 

 valleys that we have, cannot be carried on in anything like the 

 way it can be carried on in the western states upon those broad 

 plains where they take three gasoline engines and haul 55 plows 

 and plow an acre of land in four minutes. But at the same 

 time here in Xew England the farmers have to make a com- 

 paratively small investment, and upon that small investment we 

 are able to get splendid returns. The fact that the net return 

 upon a small New England farm is comparatively small, does 

 not, it seems to me. mitigate against the advantages of the bus- 

 iness. The farmer who is making a few dollars clear off from 

 his farm is carrying on a business of considerable magnitude 

 and that few dollars clear does not represent the entire net in- 

 come. He has from the products of the farm a very large part 

 of his living, in addition to the profit on what he sells for 

 ca.sh. There are a great many men right around in this part of 

 the State who are doing better than that. There are a great 

 many comparatively small farmers who are able to buy auto- 

 mobiles, perhaps not every year, but they can buy an automobile 

 and they can go to the city and go to the best hotel and enjoy 

 themselves as well, perhaps, as the majority of people who live 

 in the city. I do not intend to give you the idea that I think 

 the farmer is getting wealthy off from these old New England 

 farms, but it is a good business if it is conducted in a business- 

 like manner, and there we come to the point of tie whole 

 matter, the point we are all trying to make in modern agricul- 

 tural education, — that the farmer must adopt better business 

 methods, he must find out the cost of things and if things are 

 costing him too much he must reduce the cost. I pre^ciuK^ most 

 of you are acquainted more or less with the agitation that has 

 been going on among the printers in the country. The farmer 



