48 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



ther condition of success I must mention the possession of 

 robust and vigorous health by both husband and wife, and 

 also abundant physical strength and mental acumen : all of 

 these are absolutely essential to the highest success. 



A third condition of success is, that the farmer must under- 

 stand his business. He must know what crop or crops his 

 farm is best adapted to grow, and the best methods of grow- 

 ing them so as to realize the highest results at the least pos- 

 sible expenditure of time, labor, and money. He must know 

 what breeds of horses, cattle, sheep, and swine, will best, 

 serve his purpose to supply the demands of the markets of 

 his locality. He must know how to raise, feed, and care for 

 his animals in the best manner ; keep none but the best of 

 their kind ; know how to bu}^ and sell, and to take advantage 

 of favorable chances for doing the same. He must be able 

 to plan and direct the multitudinous operations of the farm. 

 In disposing of his surplus products, he will, so far as he can, 

 place himself in direct communication with the consumer, 

 thus saving for himself the profits that would otherwise fill 

 the purses of the middle-men. He will be scrupulously and 

 conscientiously honest, upright, and honorable in all his 

 intercourse and dealings with his fellows. He fully realizes 

 the fact that " a good name is rather to be chosen than great 

 riches, and loving-favor rather than gold." 



Another condition of success is, that the work of the farm 

 shall be seasonably and properly done. Emphatically the 

 farmer must take time by the forelock. The preparation of 

 the seed-bed must be thorough, and the sowing, planting, 

 and subsequent care and cultivation, must be done at just 

 the right time ; no weeds or noxious plants must be al- 

 lowed to choke the tender plants, or plunder them of the 

 food furnished for their growth and sustenance : for the 

 difference between doing all these tilings and not doing 

 them, is the difference between success and failure. The 

 farmer will find it for his interest to use none but the best 

 tools of their kind that his means will allow him to procure. 

 He will not regard every new-fangled implement as necessa- 

 rily an improvement because it is new : he remembers, that, 

 as the proof of a pudding is in the eating, so also is the value 

 and usefulness of an implement determined by a trial, and 

 that trial he will demand whenever he is in doubt as to the 

 working of the thing. 



