FARMS. 17 



WORCESTER WEST. 



From the Report of the Committee. 



The society, as a condition of its premiums, requires that 

 statements should be made of the receipts and expenditures of 

 the farm during the year. This, to no small part of our farm- 

 ers, appears a very formidable matter. Unfortunately but few 

 of them are sufficiently careful and accurate in their accounts, 

 if, indeed, they keep any, to make such statements as ought to 

 be satisfactory to a committee. 



This is to be regretted ; yet your committee cannot recom- 

 mend any departure from the conditions prescribed. All farm- 

 ers should keep accounts, should know the actual disbursements 

 and receipts of their business ; and if the premiums offered by 

 this society shall have any influence towards such a result, the 

 conditions should certainly, on that account, if no other, be 

 continued. 



Another, and perhaps the principal cause may be, that many 

 farmers operate on so limited a scale as to deem their farms not 

 entitled to the notice of the society. This should be regarded 

 as an erroneous opinion, to be at once corrected. Good farms 

 do not depend upon their size, but their excellence ; not 

 upon the aggregate amount of crops, but upon the proportion- 

 ate profit derived from the land, compared with the expense of 

 its culture. That this is the true principle of merit, it is pre- 

 sumed none will dispute ; and if so, then no man, however 

 small the liumber of his acres, ought to regard himself as 

 debarred from entering his farm for premium, and receiving the 

 attention of the committee. Were this view of the subject 

 generally entertained, it is believed that the competition for the 

 society's premiums would be sufficiently active. There are half 

 a dozen small farms, perhaps, to one large one, and many of 

 these farms are cultivated almost wholly by the labor of the 

 owner. Such farms are often, on many accounts, the most 

 interesting farms we have, are conducted with a degree of care, 

 economy and thrift, quite remarkable, and the committee be- 

 lieve that if this description of farms could be fairly presented 

 in the reports of the society, they would be found both inter- 

 esting and profitable, and go far to make us feel that the true 



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