192 STATE BOAED OF AGEICULTUEE. 



also distracts attention and wastes effort, like Laving "^too many irons in the 

 fire." 



Another set of obstacles grows out of tlie nature of the soil. The conditions 

 of fertility make a rotation of crops a necessity, and tlie highest art is developed 

 in adjusting it to circumstances of soil and surrounding. The necessity for 

 manuring compels most farmers to divide tlieir time and capital by a mixture 

 of interests otherwise quite distinct, like grain and stock. Only where abund- 

 ance of manure can be found ready made, can this be avoided. 



The other class of difficulties grows out of a separation leading to isolation, 

 which lias always been a foe to progress in any art. The need of considerable 

 space in broad acres fosters this. The farmer has few things in common with 

 his neighbors, except the general interest in their common calling. Habits of 

 independence are thus fostered, tliat extend into all the minutiae of tlie work, 

 multiplying the tools and macliinery of farms, and diminishing tlie productive- 

 ness of labor. Perhaps no craft or calling more encourages jealousies of the 

 trade. Each likes to do business for himself, even to the very manufacture 

 and sale of his products, if possible. Other craftsmen indulge tlie same jeal- 

 ousies, but they are not fostered by the same isolation. Indeed, the demand 

 for capital brings together otherwise competing interests in most of the arts, 

 while need of space separates farmers. It is pleasing to see an effort in the 

 direction of cooperation at the present time, for in union for a right purpose 

 there is strength, not only against opposing forces in society, but also against 

 the stern laws of natural forces. Every man aiding his fellow in the contest 

 for victory over nature will hasten the millennium of labor, and receive now the 

 "hundred-fold more" himself. 



Now it seems possible to extend the work of cooperation by close attention to 

 further division of labor among farmers. I offer only a few suggestions, which 

 may be taken for what they are worth, and I shall be satisfied if they shall 

 prove germs from which a fuller growth shall spring in any of your minds. 



We see near large cities and along the great highways of trade a tendency to 

 a somewhat full division of tillers of the soil into two great classes : farmers and 

 gardeners. The farmers are ranked again as grain-raisers, breeders, feeders, 

 and dairymen, while their farms take corresponding names. Gardeners are 

 ranked as market-gardeners, f ruit-culturists, and florists ; and each of these 

 classes may subdivide into specialists. Now may it not be possible to extend 

 this far beyond the influence of these ready and stable markets by working 

 together in production as well as in marketing, so as to insure some degree of 

 stability and certainty? 



It certainly is possible, in a stable community, to greatly increase the pro- 

 ductiveness of a given number of cows in the dairies, by uniting in a cheese- 

 factory. Every one knows that from the experience of years. Butter-making, 

 under a similar system, is equally benefited, for every advance in quality is a 

 saving, provided the quantity is not lessened. Marketing can be everywhere, as 

 it sometimes is, the special work of a responsible agent, in which a large experi- 

 ence insures a good degree of wisdom. Very much better returns for capital 

 invested in farm machinery might come from putting it into the hands of men 

 trained to run it. We all know the various success that attends the use of 

 threshing machines, and how experience fosters it. The same effect may be 

 seen in use of the mower and the reaper. I found, last summer, a whole neigh- 

 borhood depending upon the services of one man and his team for harvest- 

 ing, and they saved money by it in quicker and more perfect work, with less 



