FARMING AS A BUSINESS. 57 



intelligent industry of the farmer is speedily followed by 

 its merited rewards. 



• The Chairman. Gentlemen, there will now be an oppor- 

 tunity for a full and free discussion of any of the subjects 

 that have been brought up to-day. I will request Mr. 

 Hadwen of Worcester to take the chair, who will, much 

 better than I, develop the debating talent there is here. 



Mr. Hadwen. I will merely say, in the opening, that I 

 can verify the statements of our friend Slade in his essay ; 

 for I have had the pleasure of calling at his place, and saw 

 with my own eyes his farming, which he has described to you. 

 I can state that he has not overdrawn the picture, but has 

 given you the facts in perhaps as concise a way as possible. 

 He is certainly a good farmer, and has been quite successful 

 in growing his specialties. He has evidently sought out the 

 very best modes of cultivation ; and his farm indicated, so 

 far as I was able to observe, not only a farm where a gen- 

 • tleman could reside, but a farm which paid a good profit. 



Mr. Ware (of Marblehead). There is one thought that 

 has impressed itself upon my mind since this paper on farm- 

 ing has been presented to us, that seems to me one of very 

 great importance. We are discussing from day to day the re- 

 sults of agriculture ; and the question is often asked, " Does 

 farming pa} r ? " We are oftentimes told that the business of 

 farming is laborious. We know it is ; and we also know, 

 that, for the last few years, the results of agriculture have 

 not been satisfactory in a pecuniary point of view. But let 

 me tell you, my friends, as the gentleman who presented that 

 paper has said, that, after all, there is no better business than 

 farming. I am ready to join hands with him, and say, that, 

 in my opinion, there is no business to-day that offers better 

 results than those of the farm, although that, as well as 

 other branches of business, has suffered in a pecuniary point 

 of view ; or, in other words, we have not been able to make 

 much money for the last few years. I would ask, What busi- 

 ness has? What manufacturing business, what professional 

 business, has returned the results that were anticipated? 



Mr. Wheeler. While I was very much interested in the 

 paper read by Mr. Slade, there was one idea advanced by 

 him, to which, when it comes to be read over in Berkshire 



