30 • [Assembly 



ment of his soil sometimes prevents him from carrying this princi- 

 ple out to its full extent, but as he approximates to it, he 

 increases his profits, as it enables him to methodize his business 

 and to acquire a thorough knowledge of everything relating to 

 the article he produces. He who has a large amount of any one 

 thing to sell, can dispose of it with less loss of time to himself and 

 the buyers, with a more perfect understanding of the markets 

 than the man who has an equal amount in value but made up of 

 a diversity of articles. This principle is well illustrated in that 

 section of the State where the inhabitants are exclusively engaged 

 in making butter or cheese ; pursuits which admit of the application 

 of the principle, as they do not exhaust the soil. The products of 

 these dairies are sold at their homes, the whole disposition of the 

 fruits of their toil is a single monied transaction, leaving them at 

 liberty to buy their supplies including the flour they consume, with 

 cash under the most favorable circumstances. Confining their 

 attention to one subject from year to year, they become skilled in 

 their peculiar pursuit and methodize and cheapen their processes. 

 Informed with regard to the markets, they learn to follow their 

 productions into the open markets of the world; trace them per- 

 haps to the shores of Europe, and are thus led to inform themselves 

 more thoroughly in relation to the principles of commerce, the laws 

 of trade, and the tastes and habits of their customers. A simple 

 illustration of the same principle is an apple orchard that gives 

 fifty varieties of fine fruit in comparison with one that gives but 

 one valuable kind. The first is almost valueless for commercial 

 purposes ; for the time required for gathering and selling the fruit 

 in detail and at different times, eats up their price in market, 

 while the same number of trees of one standard variety makes an- 

 important addition to the farmer's income, because he gathers and 

 sells them by one operation, and because with our extended mar- 

 ketsihe purchaser seeks him out to save his own time and expenses 

 bybuying largely at one place. The important principle of "doing 

 one thing ; doing it well and extensively," is one of the principles 

 towards which there is now a strong tendency. Of course, in ag- 

 riculture, this must be qualified by the necessity which compels 

 rotation of crops, kc, but the principle can and should be ap- 

 proximated to. 



/ 



