390 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



from now of course we cannot tell, but it is among the possibilities to which 

 we can look forward." 



It is difficult to show just what the profits of the farmer are on any given 

 piece of labor. We might, as is sometimes done, take a given field and crop, 

 estimate the cost of seed, cultivation, harvesting, and marketing, and com- 

 pare it with the value of the crop. That, however, is not very satisfactory 

 unless we could have the actual account as kept accurately by the farmer him- 

 self. Such an account to the farmer must be of great value, as in a few years 

 he would know, with almost a certainty, what he could raise most profitably, 

 and what it was better for him not to try to raise at all. 



On general principles we may assert that the margin of profit in farming 

 will depend, as in other occupations, on the order of talent devoted to it and 

 the capital employed in it. Judging from the practice of the average farmer, 

 we think he has a good deal to learn yet on both of these points. The old 

 adage so frequently quoted as though it were a self-evident truth, "He that 

 by the plow would thrive, himself must either hold or drive," is, in my 

 opinion, a piece of unmitigated nonsense. It is a part of the old absurdity 

 that farming simply means manual labor. A man might drive a team or hold 

 a plow excellently, and yet be destitute of nearly every quality that would con- 

 stitute a good farmer; Just as a man might be an expert in the manipulations 

 of setting type, and yet be entirely unfit to conduct a newspaper successfully. 

 Ability to perform some manual or mechanical operation is a very convenient 

 thing to have; it is not, however, of much itnporcance in estimating the fitness 

 of a man for the successful conduct of any business enterprise, whether it be 

 a farm, a factory, or a mercantile establishment. More than that, a man 

 who is going to conduct such an enterprise, must be better employed. He can- 

 not afford to spend his time in mere manual operations, that he can hire done 

 for from one to two dollars per day. Your return will be in proportion to 

 what you give, and as you give. Does not your occupation as well as the 

 Bible teach you that what a man soweth that shall he also reap? That and 

 not something else. If you have nothing higher to give your farm than mere 

 manual labor, it will yield Just about what manual labor is worth in the labor 

 market, and you must be content to live on that, not because your farm has 

 nothing better to give, but because you have nothing better to give your farm. 

 Give it the enthusiasm of one who loves his occupation. Give it the best 

 intellectual service of which you are capable, leading you to the wisest possible 

 adaptation of means to ends, and with liberal hand it will shower upon you the 

 ampler reward of that higher service. 



Whether you agree with me in this position or not, did time permit I could 

 refer you to a great number and variety of incidents in the actual work of the 

 farm, abundantly proving the truth of what I say. I can remember when 

 every one considered it necessary to keep hogs till they were about eighteen 

 months old before converting them into pork. Why? Simply because they did 

 not give it thought enough to find out whether it paid or not, or whether there 

 might be a better way. Bye and bye somebody did give the matter thought, 

 and by careful investigation and experiment established the fact that about 

 one-half that time of keeping will yield the largest profit, thus saving the cost 

 and trouble of wintering and having a larger margin of profit than before. 

 We can all remember when four or five pounds of wool to a fleece was con- 

 sidered very good, and six was something quite remarkable. Now, as the 

 result of knowledge and intelligent systematic effort, the weight of fleece 

 in many flocks has been more than doubled, and the margin of profit more 



