COUNTRY MEETING. 11 



now we arc ready to listen to lectures on any subject of 

 general interest. Not that individual farmers are likely to 

 adopt the cultivation of a greater variety than at present, for 

 the tendency (which seems a necessity of the times) is toward 

 some specialties to be decided upon according to circum- 

 stances, — but that the undecided may gain light which shall 

 enable them to decide wisely, and that those who may now 

 have chosen a particular course may be able more perfectly 

 to follow on. 



It has sometimes been said, this or that can be raised at 

 the West and brought here cheaper than we can raise the 

 same on our farms, and therefore it does not pay to raise it 

 here. While this may sometimes be true, it need not always 

 be so ; and it will not be, if we are time to our opportunities. 

 Besides, these farms are to be occupied, — considerations 

 aside from dollars and cents enter into our estimate of life. 



Our climate, though sometimes severe, is generally health- 

 ful. We have an abundance of the purest water; our 

 scenery is a constant delight ; and, thanks to the wisdom 

 and the sacrifices of those who have gone before us, our 

 social, educational and religious privileges are nowhere sur- 

 passed and rarely equalled. 



We have a great variety of soils, enabling one to make one 

 branch of agriculture a specialty, and another some other 

 branch, while very few, if any of us, are entirely dependent 

 on any one crop. Herein our New England farmers hold a 

 decided advantage over those where the entire energy of 

 large sections is devoted to one product, so that when this 

 one fails the loss brings suffering. Our potato crop this 

 year has been largely a failure, j^et no community will suffer 

 from this loss, and but few individuals will be put to incon- 

 venience thereby. 



The question then is not shall we cultivate these limited 

 acres, but how shall we best cultivate them? Not how to 

 get along with as little thought and labor as possible, but 

 how, by more earnest thought guiding more energetic labor, 

 can we secure greater results ? 



Since competition with the wide world brings down the 

 market price of many of our products, we must seek by all 

 just and fair means to reduce the cost. And this is oftenest 



