43 



A vote of thanks was given to Mr. Mills and Mr. Hickox for their interest- 

 ing addresses and the meeting was dissolved . 



THE SEVENTEENTH INSTITUTE. 



The Seventeenth Institute was held at the Great Barrington Town Hall on 

 Thursday February 27th, 1884. The day was stormy, the travelling poor, and 

 the attendance small. The meeting was called to order by President Kline. 

 The discussion on the subject of "Farm Labor and Machinery," was opened by 

 Mr. James H. Rowley of Egremont, who confined himself mostly to farm labor. 

 The scarcity of this labor, so well realized by farmers, he said, it is not possible 

 to remedy, but farmers are practically concerned in learning why farm labor is 

 not better than it is. The employer is often to blame. It is he who must educate 

 his help and if he does not do it correctly, other farmers for whom these hired 

 men work suffer. We are educating the farm help for the next generation. 

 The drinking of intoxicating liquors is one of the banes of the farm laborers 

 and farmers bring this upon themselves by upholding a license law. Liquor 

 had better be banished ; it unmans our men and makes our hired help unprofit- 

 able. The farmer has difficulties which other trades do not have. We 

 cannot have competitive examinations when we hire our men, but must take 

 them largely on their own representations. There are, however some indications 

 of character. If a man has slow speech, look out for slow feet and slow hands. 

 Get a man who steps quickly and with a decided tread. As between married and 

 single men, the former are to be preferred. They are less inclined to be away 

 from home and their work is cheaper and better than that of the average, single 

 man. The married men board themselves and their attachment to their families 

 keeps them at home. This creates domestic economy. They usually keep a 

 cow and this teaches them to economize in the use of their own fodder, and 

 hence the farmer's fodder ; it also incuclates an interest in cattle, which redounds 

 to the farmer's benefit. The hired man should furnish his own fodder for his 

 cow : he will then study the subject of rations. The keeping of swine by the 

 hired man will have the same effects upon him. The longer farmers can keep 

 their men the better. Mr. Rowley keeps them five or six years on an average, 

 and has had one man ten years. He gave various instances of how he had edu- 

 cated his men to drive oxen, to whet a scythe, to bind straw, etc. It is easier 

 to instruct men in the care of cows than sheep, for they often frighten the latter . 

 They should learn to go among them quietly, and feed them before dark. He 

 has never had difficulty with his workmen from lack of interest, but has had the 

 greatest trouble from their love for liquor, which is something always liable to 

 appear. 



President Joseph A. Kline spoke of the various circumstances in which far- 

 mers find themselves, as determining what kind of help they need. Shall we 

 get the highest priced help, or the cheapest ? If we hire but one man, get the 

 best by all means, for the farmer needs a brainy man ; or if he needs more than 

 one man, still get this one man, but the others may as well be cheap help, for 

 the one man can furnish brains for the whole gang. It is more difficult to edu- 

 cate the farm laborer than th« mechanic, for the latter has only to learn definite 

 processes, while the former must rely upon his judgment in relation to circum- 

 stances that are never twice alike. 



W. H. Palmer of Stockbridge, asked if laborers did not sometimes instruct 



