DAIRY AND SEED IMPROVEMENT MEETINGS. 327 



II. The Farmer is a Manufacturer. 



Not such a long time ago, only about fifty years, the farmer 

 produced on his farm all his food, clothes and other articles for 

 living, selling perhaps a little surplus and buying practically 

 nothing, so his home and business were directly connected and 

 so tied up that accounting was not necessary and therefore no 

 accounts were kept. 



Today conditions have so changed that the farmer generally 

 produces one to five different products for sale, and buys the 

 clothes for himself and family, and many of the food products. 



The farmer must therefore depend rnore and more upon the 

 sale of these one to five products for his cash income, and must 

 know as nearly as possible what it costs to produce these articles 

 in order that he may know when he is making or losing money. 

 The amount he is able to make on these products is the amount 

 he will have to spend for what we call ^'necessities" today, but 

 which, years ago, were considered luxuries. 



III. Manufacturer should know the consumef's wants. The 



market and ways of marketing. 



The most successful manufacturer of any line of business 

 constantly studies the changes in the mode of living, the wants 

 of the consumer, where the markets are, how products are best 

 sold, and the best way of distribution. 



We may take for example the large manufacturers of Meri- 

 den, Connecticut, who have been manufacturing for years out 

 of silver and silver plate. These people have constantly had to 

 change the articles which they manufactured in order to keep 

 up with the public demands. At the present time a large part 

 of their industry is the manufacturing of plated articles which 

 can be used for cooking by electricity. The manufacturer of 

 flatirons who has stuck to the manufacture of the old fashioned 

 flatirons is not making the money that his competitor is, who 

 is not only manufacturing the old fashioned kind for a certain 

 demand, but the electric and gas irons for the more modern 

 demand. The manufacturers of cotton and woolen goods are 

 constantly having to change the designs of their cloth and the 

 weave to suit the changed demands of the trade. 



