342 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



truck ; and cash is always bettor than anything' else to buy with, 

 and will go further. I have asked farmers, apparently well to do, 

 having farms capable of keeping ten or fifteen cows, in fad keep- 

 ing one or two — I have asked them, Where does your money come 

 from? "Sureenough !" they answer, "Wedon'thave anymoney." 

 In certain conditions of primitive society the truck system is con- 

 venient. But I repeat, after all nothing is worth so much, and 

 will go so far in purchasing as cash. I suppose all the farmers 

 have money ; but they meant in the answer they gave to my ques- 

 tion, that they did not have much, less by far than they ought to 

 have, considering the extent and capabilities of their farms. Good 

 dairy products, especially first rate dairy products, and still more 

 especially cheese, will always bring ready cash. 



One more argument for associated dairying. It bencfils almost 

 equally the ichole communiiy. Every remotest farm that avails itself 

 of the factory is benefited. Your woolen and cotton mills are 

 doubtless a great benefit to the town. They employ a few score 

 of hands, but otherwise than that, they are chiefly a source of 

 wealth to only a few, mainly the proprietors. Their tendency is 

 to draw the wealth to the villages from the extremities of the 

 towns. The}' build splendid mills, and beautiful palaces, and co- 

 lossal fortunes for the few. The wealth that comes in is not dis- 

 seminated, but centralized, and much of it is sent abroad for the 

 raw material. And still we say good speed to the manufacturing 

 interest, especially when good and noble and public spirited men 

 control it, as among us. Its prosperity is our prosperity. Every 

 available privilege on our streams ought to be improved and used 

 for manufacturing purposes. You ought to have cotton factories 

 and boot and shoe factories, and manufactories for all sorts of 

 wooden and iron utensils and implements. These, all, no doubt, 

 are a benefit to the towns ; they increase wealth, but mainly to the 

 proprietors and to the villages. 



On the other hand, the cheese factory is a disseminating and not 

 a centralizing point of wealtli. It is merely the agent or the me- 

 dium through which you send the liquid product of your farm to 

 exchange for solid gold or its equivalent. The money goes to the 

 many producers. The naturally best farms are frequently most 

 remote from the centres of business. These are placed on almost 

 an equal footing with those close by the centres. And frequently 

 indeed they have the advantage of an abundance of cheap land, 

 comparatively new, aflbrding a supply of the best pasturage, which 



