FAEMEKS' INSTITUTES. 193 



wear of macliinery aud liorse-flesli, not to mention the idle cajoital in ten 

 machines. How largely this mutual dependence might be found in this 

 direction, I leave you to study. How few machines of proper capacity could 

 accomplish all the work of a hundred farms, if handled by trained hands ! 



This spirit of cooperation, once established, will lead to a reform in many 

 directions. I shall not be surprised to hear of a union in rotation of crops, or 

 for extensive experiment in the perfection of seeds and methods of tillage. I 

 feel sure of its reaching most of the manual operations of the farm, so that sets 

 of trained hands may succeed each other in the progress of the crop. Once it 

 was necessary that every farmer and his man should spend the greater share 

 of the winter in swinging the flail to beat out his grain. The threshing machine, 

 made possible by division of labor, reduces the labor to a fraction of its former 

 bulk. Still more may be saved in similar methods applied to the tilling, curing, 

 storing, and feeding of crops. 



But without waiting for this new era in the manufacture of raw materials, 

 some advance in productiveness of labor comes with every effort to assign par- 

 ticular duties to different men. A well ordered farm shows some approach to 

 di\dsion, in assignment of many duties to the constant attention of the same 

 hands. Responsibility for different fields or crops can sometimes rest upon 

 separate shoulders ; and the sons might early learn and practice some of the 

 finer part of farming, were they made to share in this responsibility, aud allowed 

 to exercise their ingenuity aright. 



Another step in the right direction is made by choice of a good rotation, in 

 which the labors of one season shall not crowd upon those succeeding, and all 

 may work together, with least machinery to rust out. Thus time and means 

 are best economized, and the waste that follows haste is avoided. 



Every discovery or invention that enables lis to escape the uncertainty of crops 

 from uncertain weather is a help toward division. If, by a thorough system of 

 underdraining, waiting for the fitness of soil in the spring can be abridged, or 

 the evils of drought and wet can be lessened, we are enabled to confine atten- 

 tion to fewer varieties and secure l)etter results. Improved methods of tillage 

 and curing, and protecting timber-belts may aid in the same direction. But 

 most of all, some definite foreknowledge of the changing winds and storms is 

 needed ; and this we are looking for from the army of meteorologists studying 

 the skies and the air throughout the land. If the laws of storms can be under- 

 erstood as well as the laws of light and gravity, no doubt we shall find them as 

 perfect and certain as any of God's work. 



There is one step to be taken by every farmer in this direction, Avithout regard 

 to wind or weather. That is to fix upon some line or rotation of culture suited 

 to his taste, his capital, his soil, and his market, and stich to it. No business 

 man succeeds Avho wavers from dry -goods to hardware, and then to fancy goods. 

 So no farmer does good work as a farmer, however he may thrive as a specu- 

 lator, whose fancy fluctuates from sheep to swine with every change in price of 

 wool or pork. We all know how the fashion changes ; but is there any Avorldly 

 wisdom in following whims of trade to the destruction of an honest business? 

 If ''the shoemaker must stick to his last" in order to succeed, the farmer is in 

 the sure way to productiveness when he stands by his best efforts in a given 

 direction, and profits by each year's experience. Such a man will find his facil- 

 ities for utilizing every moment of time and every cent of capital increasing 

 with his years. If all would learn the lesson, almost one-half the uncertainty 

 which attends the raising of farm produce for market would be removed. This 



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