4 Address. 



to these new conditions, in feeling their way, as it were, in new 

 directions, often meet with discouragement and loss, and sometimes 

 this comes so heavily that the victim is distressed, and fears that his 

 occupation is gone ; that his unfortunate locality labors under such dis- 

 advantages that it cannot compete in this modern strife ; that the old 

 farin like an old man must pass away ; that it cannot stand up against 

 the new, vigorous and more fortunate regions more recently settled. 



Of late years much has been said and written about the decline 

 of New England agriculture, and the hard lot of the New England 

 farmer, as compared with him of the West, has been the theme of 

 much very sympathetic and patronizing talk. Let us therefore face 

 this question squarely, let us see where we stand, and what the 

 danger is. If this industry is to be destroyed, let us flee from the 

 calamity ; if, on the other hand, we choose to stand by our homes 

 and our farms, let us see what our condition really is, and what are 

 the best lines of defense. 



And first, let us consider some of the elementary principles that 

 underlie this industry, for a better understanding of the nature of 

 the problem we are specially considering. Competition in farm 

 products is governed by very different conditions from those which 

 pertain to the products of other industries and to trade. The food 

 of civilization is produced from the soil, either by tillage or by rais- 

 ing live stock, the amount of food derived from fisheries and hunting 

 is so small in amount compared with that produced from the soil, 

 that in this connection it may be ignored. Because agriculture pro- 

 duces the food, it is more intimately related to all the problems of 

 civilized society than the other industries, and because it is so abso- 

 lutely essential to the very existence of life itself in civilized commu- 

 nities, it must and will go on in some shape. It cannot be killed in 

 any considerable region, no matter how unfavorable the conditions, 

 unless we exterminate the inhabitants. So long as there are mouths 

 to feed, and soil that will grow a crop of food, this industry will go 

 on in some way. Hence it is the most adaptive of all industries and 

 can conform its operations and methods to the hardest possible con- 

 ditions. It is plastic, and conforms to the pressure of circumstances. 

 If one crop cannot be grown another can. If from any cause, one 

 kind of crop previously grown becomes unprofitable, then this will 

 drop out of cultivation and another take its place, and as a matter of 

 fact, the agriculture of any region, even the most fortunate, is con- 

 tinually in a state of change, greater or less, adjusting itself to the 

 varying conditions to which it is subject. 



