4 MASSACHUSETTS AGEICULTURE. 



axiom that profits are in proportion to the risks. Tlie risks 

 which the men who make hirge fortunes incur, are seen in the 

 wrecks which are strewed around us. Indeed, the risks of 

 the money-making avocations, as they are called, are such, 

 that if prosecuted for a long period, financial ruin is the rule 

 and not the exception. 



The farmer does not make large profits. His capital is 

 subject to no risks, except from his own extravagance or mis- 

 management. With prudence and good husbandry, though 

 his crops may occasionally fail, he can always obtain a good 

 living without sale or mortgage of his lands. His capital is 

 always safe, and his accumulations, though small, are certain. 

 He may not die a rich man, and he will not live a bankrupt. 



But let him compare his condition with that of the farmer 

 of half a century ago. It is plain that if he would be content 

 to live as the farmer then did, upon the products of his farm, 

 from his surplus productions, with the market of to-day, he 

 could soon acquire wealth. But the farmer of to-day does 

 not so live, and he has abundant reason to thank God that he 

 is not compelled to. The farmer of to-day lives better than 

 did the farmer of half a century ago. He receives not only 

 .the necessaries of life, but enjoys many of its comforts and 

 luxuries. He dresses better, his house is better and more 

 comfortable, and furnished with taste, and even elegance. 

 He has more time and opportunities for reading and study. 

 He mingles more with the world. He invests more in chari- 

 ties. He is enabled to improve himself, and to properly care 

 for and educate his children, the best and noblest products of 

 his farm. He is enabled to accomplish all these things from 

 the profits of his fields, aud if at the end of the year he has 

 laid by no more than did the farmer of half a century ago, he 

 has made investments which no calamities in the future can 

 destroy. 



But I am reminded by the place of our meeting of " the 

 fields that no man ploughs, and the farm that pays no fee." 



These fields are yours, sturdy men of Cape Ann. The 

 boundless deep with its myriad products is spread out before 

 you. "The plough, the spade, the hoe, are implements un- 

 known in your fiirming. Beneath the sounding sea is the 

 vast and fertile garden, whi^h for all time and without culti- 



