FAKMEKS' INSTITUTES. 185 



OBSTACLES TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF AGRICULTUEE. 



In this day of agricultural reform the great desire is to make of agriculture a 

 science ; to work by principle rather than guess ; to apply skilled, educ ated 

 labor, rather than unskilled, ignorant labor. 



To do this it is evidently necessary to pursue the same principle that has 

 raised other occupations to the position for \f\nch agriculture has vainly striven. 

 Let us then find, if we can, this principle. By an examination of advanced occu- 

 pations we find that though they differ much in many respects, they all agree 

 in keeping one man confined to a small portion of work. This principle, 

 called division of labor, is well illustrated in any large manufactory. 



Observe, for instance, the manufacture of chairs : One man makes the 

 rounds, another the seats, a third the upper portion of the legs ; everything so 

 arranged that each does only a small portion of the work, and hence is con- 

 stantly going over the same ground. 



The advantages of this system are obvious. Less time is required to learn a 

 trade, for there is much less to learn ; hence there is much less waste, for it is 

 in learning a trade that the waste chiefly occurs. Great skill and great manual 

 dexterity are accpiired, for a luau is constantly going over the same ground ; a 

 man finds the exact position for which he is fitted. We are not all created 

 alike. Each has talents which jjcculiarly fit him for some one position, and 

 totally unfit him for many others. By the application of this principle he may 

 confine his entire attention to one thing, and that one thing may be, and usually 

 is, that for which his talents fit him. Articles are uniform, for the laborer, 

 constantly going over the same ground, learns to perform his labor exactly 

 alike each time ; hence the sale is better, market more permanent, and business 

 more stable. 



Skill is well paid for, and is at a premium of several hundred per cent ; hence 

 an incentive is furnished for the acquisition of skill, and a continuance at the 

 same work. The pin-maker may, by continuing at his work and acquiring 

 more skill, double, treble, or quadruple his Avages, become master of his associ- 

 ates, foreman of the department, or superintendent of the manufactory. As an 

 illustration of the advantages of this system, we quote from Adam Smith : 

 '•'One man, working alone, can make 20 j^ins in a day; thus 18 men would 

 make 360 pins. By division of labor, 18 men can make 90,000 pins in a day. 

 Thus each man would make 5,000 pins, or 250 times as many as by the old plan." 



The increased productiveness of every advanced occupation is owing to the 

 successful application of this principle. 



"Wherever this principle has been applied to agriciUture advancement has been 

 made. Machinery, in which lies our chief superiority over the ancients, owes 

 its manufacture and improvements to this principle. Cheese-making and fruit- 

 raising, which have realized the advantages of division of labor, are the most 

 advanced of agricultural operations. In the great mass of agricultural opera- 

 tions this principle is not applied. The same man plows, mows, reaps, and sows. 



A man may become a skilled plowman or a skilled mower ; but he can not 

 possibly become skilled in all agricultural operations. 



As the increa-e of wages and the advancement of position are in proportion to 

 the skill acquired, the laborer can, at best, hope for an increase in wages of only 

 three or four dollars per month, hence no incentive is furnished for persistent 

 labor in this occupation, and young men leave the farm to engage in labor 

 where industry and skill are better rewarded, and agriculture is retarded by their 

 -loss. 



