Farmers' Institutes. 41 



tnent which would regenerate the farming on our hills, I believe that when a 

 farm has been brought up to high fertility by this process it will be safe to at- 

 tempt other specialties. The Smiths of Smith's Ferry are successful with pota- 

 toes, for instance; others succeed with tobacco, cabbage, etc. ; but unless the fer- 

 tilizers are purchased it would in my view be hardly safe for the average farmer 

 to attempt these crops as specialties until after some years of raising forage crops 

 to the full capacity of the farm and feeding them out at home. 



To work a farm economically, to raise crops at the minimum cost, must be 

 our aim if we would succeed. To do this we must adopt all the labor-saving im- 

 plements which can be used to advantage in our plan of farming. Many a farmer 

 goes without some one or more tools when he could save almost enough by one 

 season's use to pay for them. It used to be said that it was poor farming to sell 

 hay and that the farmer who bought grain was on the high road to ruin, but I 

 would advise that if the farmer happens to have a surplus of hay he sell it, and 

 if he happens to be short of corn he buy, always endeavoring to raise what he 

 needs to consume on the farm, also striving to turn off the surplus products in 

 such form as will least deplete the farm's fertility. Of this character are the 

 several products of the dairy, wool, mutton, beef and pork. In short, carry on 

 your farm business on business principles. The same ability, education, enter- 

 prise and economy which brings success to the merchant or manufacturer will 

 just as surely bring the same to a farmer. But he need not expect his farm to 

 make him rich if he leaves it to run itself. 



M. S. Heath of Curtisville said that he never found cheap help good for any- 

 thing, and would like to have Mr. Sessions' opinion on the subject. 



Mr. Sessions said that he always employed the best help. He paid three to 

 five dollars more per month than his neighbors. 



On motion of Mr. Miller of Sheffield a vote of thanks was tendered Mr. 

 Sessions. 



Dr. Miller thought that the habit which farmers have of always selling on 

 credit is bad. If there is any doubt about the trustworthiness of the buyers, the 

 farmer has as good a right to security as the bank has. 



George Wheeler of Monterey said that in discussions of the economy of 

 farming he had never heard anything said about the importance of keeping ac- 

 counts. When he hears a fai-mer say that farming does not pay, that he does not 

 know how much he feeds to his cattle and is ignorant about the cost of the de- 

 tails of farming, he knows that such a man does not keep accounts. Not one 

 man in ten can tell how much his crops cost him. A strict method of keeping 

 accounts will show what in farming pays and what does not pay ; and what does 

 not pay should be given up. Perhaps a certain cow may give a great quantity of 

 milk, and yet if she be kept for butter-making purposes, there may be hardly any 

 cream from her milk. If a strict account of her production of butter be kept, it 

 will soon be ascertained that she is unprofitable for butter-making purposes. 



James Bullard of Lee gave some account of the creamery in that place, and 

 answered a number of questions in regard to the profits and management of a 

 creamery. He said that a large patronage is needed to make a creamery pay. 

 One advantage of a creamery is that it weeds out poor cows. One patron has 

 three or four inches of cream, and another patron, owning the same number of 

 cows has less. This leads to an investigation to find out where the difference is. 

 If a public creamery cannot be had, the next best thing is a private creamery. 

 He thinks that the public creamery is less expensive, and yet knows of a number 

 of farmers in the county who have used the private creamery with success. 



At 12:30 p. m., the meeting adjourned until 1:30 p. m., to give those present 

 an opportunity to take dinner. 



At 2 o'clock the meeting was called to order by First Vice-president George 

 Kellogg of Sheffield, who introduced E. M. Washburn of Lenox, the principal 

 speaker of the afternoon session. Mr. Washburn read an important paper on 

 " Silos and Ensilage," a subject on which he is well qualified to talk, having ex- 

 perimented to a considerable extent with this new method of preserving fodder. 

 He sketched the history of silos and ensilage, and then offered some information, 

 based on his own experience and that of others. The silo should so be built that 

 the ensilage can be removed at the bottom of the wall, when it is needed for feed, 



