72 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



economy and on human society to be secured in a moment or 

 at trifling cost. It is not by speeches at agricultural fairs, nor 

 by the resolutions of farmers' clubs, nor by the exhortations of 

 the agricultural press that the work is to be done, though those 

 will all help and stimulate the effort. No real progress will be 

 made until the farmers themselves (in their individual capacity) 

 undertake the work, and undertake it with a will, with a real 

 conviction that there is a better way of farming than any they 

 have yet tried ; and that their best chance for improving their 

 own condition, for making more money, and for securing their 

 sons as helpers and successors, lies in seeking out this better 

 way, and in devoting themselves to its untiring and unfaltering 

 prosecution. 



I have said that if we would improve we must risk some- 

 thing — " nothing venture, nothing have." If you are content 

 as you are, remain as you are, however that may be. Do the 

 best you can in your own little treadmill, and never mind that 

 others are getting on while you are standing still. If you are 

 happy in the simple fact that you make both of your narrow 

 ends meet, and meet at the same point, year after year, far be 

 it from me to wish to disturb your serenity. You have your 

 use in the world : you are a good tally-mark to count from ; 

 and the more unmoved you remain, the easier will it be to see 

 how the better men progress. If, on the other hand, you are 

 not satisfied to stand still, but wish to join in the march that is 

 carrying the best men of your time to the highest favor, pros- 

 perity and consideration, and which promises as much for you 

 as for any of them, then you must make up your mind to risk 

 something of what you have (as they all do) in order to gain 

 what without the risk it is impossible for you to get. Only be 

 careful to cast your ventures with judgment. 



The tendency of enterprising farmers is often to risk too 

 much, or to risk for too uncertain ends. No man can afford to 

 hazard his self-respect, his self-reliance, his hopefulness, his 

 courage ; for those imply (among other things,) his ability to 

 work. And this is the one thing that will secure him comfort 

 and happiness, and nearly all else that is worth the having, no 

 matter what befalls. Therefore, in every undertaking, he should 

 mark well all his ways, and forecast carefully his chances of 

 success and failure, lest he should bring upon himself needless 



