GENERAL PRINCIPLES 17 



all of the five other influences cited above depend. With all the increase, 

 during the three past generations, of other factors going to make up pros- 

 perity or adversity, it is almost as true to-day as it was a century ago that 

 the average nation's industrial welfare depends chiefly on the raising of an 

 abundant crop and its sale at fair prices. 1 



Seasonal character of agriculture. The mention of the 

 dependence of the farmer on weather and other climatic con- 

 ditions suggests another important characteristic of agriculture 

 as a way of getting a living, that is, its seasonal character. 

 This applies not only to the changing of the seasons from spring 

 to summer, from summer to autumn, and from autumn to 

 winter ; but even during the same day the nature of the work 

 changes from hour to hour. It is never possible, in the temper- 

 ate zone, to work day in and day out, week in and week out, at 

 one simple operation repeated indefinitely, as is commonly done 

 in almost every mechanical industry. On a farm there are things 

 which have to be done at certain hours of the day, and quite 

 different things at other hours ; and so from day to day, from 

 week to week, from month to month, and from season to season 

 the work is constantly changing. These are normal changes 

 such as can be predicted in advance. On any ordinary farm 

 there are a multitude of operations, widely different in their 

 nature, requiring the use of different powers or different kinds 

 of skill. On account of its seasonal character, therefore, the 

 work of the farmer is more diversified than that of any other 

 large class of workers. 



In addition to these normal seasonal changes, necessitating 

 regular changes in the farmer's work, there are always to .be 

 expected a certain number of abnormal or unforeseeable changes 

 or interruptions in the regular work. A sudden change of the 

 weather, for example, may necessitate a complete change in the 

 farmer's plans for the day, and force him to do a kind of work 



1 The Nation (New York), Vol. 72 (1876), p. 464. 



