40 



part a speciality, now costing $20, that would have cost $60 fifty years ago. 

 Of C. T. Sampson's shoe factory in North Adams, where concentration of at- 

 tention 2700 pairs of shoes are turned out in a day by 300 operatives. Without 

 machinery one industrious, expert man can make one pair of shoes in a day ; 

 with machinery he can make two pairs ; while by dividing labor into specialities 

 a result is attained ot an average of nine pairs per man. 



On a farm there cannot be such specialities in labor, for if a man is a re- 

 markable sower, or a first-class hoer, his work lasts but a few days ; he must do 

 all work well. He should, however, keep up with the t'mes and avoid trying to 

 raise those crops that other farmers can excel him in raising. There are crops 

 New England can't raise in competition with the rest of the country, and Indian 

 corn is one of them. The Illinois farmer has land that he is willing to draw 

 upon without replenishing, and the farmers here can't do it, with their land al- 

 ready needing fertilizers. In Illinois, also, there are machines in use that can't 

 be used here, and Western corn can be sold here with a profit, at a price less 

 than one that we can raise it for. 



Farmers are notoriously wasteful about their farms. If manufacturers were 

 no more saving of material than farmers they would be bankrupt in six months. 

 Mr. Mills knew a farmer who would go ten miles to make one dollar in swap- 

 ping a cow, but who bored holes in his stable floor to let the urine escape, 

 though there is no better fertilizer on the farm than this, and it should be saved 

 by absorbents. Many farmers make up for this needless waste by buying ex- 

 pensive commercial fertilizers. Farmers should keep account of all expenses. 

 Who can tell how much it costs to produce a pound of butter, a pound of pork sell- 

 ing at $9, corn at $1.35, how much for beef, for keeping poultry ? Milk, butter and 

 cheese, said Mr. Mills, should be the specialities of the Housatonic valley. They 

 pay the best and keep the farm in the best condition. Many animals on a farm 

 are sure to make the land good. The making of butter is the best use to which 

 the farm can be put and should be made a specialty. Some farmers who do this 

 get seventy-five cents per pound. When your butter will not bring twenty 

 cents there is something wrong. 



Mr. S. A. Hickox of North Adams, began his remarks by alluding to the 

 famous beautiful scenery of Berkshire County, its pure springs, pure air, and 

 the crowds of people it attracts on that account. We farmers look at it in a dif- 

 ferent phase, we look at the soil. Our fathers tell us of the time when corn 

 grew so tall one could tie it over his head, and it grew on the ridges of the hills 

 where now-a-days you couldn't raise a stalk as big as your thumb. If your cow 

 is sick you send for the cow doctor, but when your plants grow sickly you 

 don't bestir yourselves. Election results are brought about by special efforts, 

 and the same thing applies to farming. The soil of New England has been 

 cropped for a century, and big crops have been taken from it and the loss of 

 the crop producing materials from the soil has not been made good. There is 

 something yet in the New England soil for us, but we must do something for 

 the soil, and enter into some special line of product. We must raise enough 

 wool, or butter, or milk of the best quality so that we are known and identified 

 in market as the producer of it. 



Fifteen years ago, Mr. Hickox bought a run down farm with dilapidated 

 buildings and shouldered a mortgage of $7,000. The neighbors predicted certain 



