1884,] VARIOUS VIEWS OF FAEMING. 219 



superior results, and as it would be next to impossible for any one 

 man to know as much about ten different trades as each often 

 might know about some one, it is doubtless the part of wisdom to 

 lean towards some specialty or a division of labor in agriculture 

 as well as in manufactures and trade. It will not, however, be 

 advisable to confine one's self exclusively to a single crop, for a 

 style of farming that is somewhat diversified, is far more secure 

 against loss from unfavorable seasons and variable marljets. 



I know a specialist who gives his attention to three crops — pears, 

 grapes, and cucumbers, the latter being grown under glass in win- 

 ter, giving employment at a time when his trees and vines need 

 little or no attention. 



A too common mistake of farmers is to start out in some branch 

 of agriculture without sufficiently preparing for the end. A grass 

 farmer sets out a large field of strawberries or plants, a wide area 

 of early peas for market, without making a proper effort to secure 

 pickers, and when harvest-time arrives he finds that either berries, 

 peas, or hay must bring him a loss for want of more hands than 

 he can command. Such men are continually changing from one 

 thing to another, and rarely stick long enough to any one kind of 

 business to half learn it, or to acquire even a fair degree of suc- 

 cess. There is one kind of 



MIXED FARMING 



which I am in favor of, always. I refer to that carried on by 

 mechanics and mill-operatives during the morning and evening 

 before and after mill hours, and also during any forced vacations 

 on account of dull times, or other causes. 



I would like, too, to see a good many who are classed as farmers, 

 but who can find little to do in winter but to sit by the chimney- 

 corner consuming in idleness all the increase from their summer's 

 work, find some sort of mechanical work to do in winter, by 

 which they could at least earn their daily bread. A good many farm- 

 ers do find winter work to do in boot-shops, bonnet-shops, furniture- 

 shops, jewelry factories, lumber-mills, and in cutting and hauling 

 wood and lumber and storing ice. Dairy farmers, too, find plenty 

 of work without leaving the farm, if they keep a winter dairy; 

 but idleness in winter is the cause of big leaks on a great many 

 New England farms. 



