102 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



farmer of Massachusetts lives on an average about sixty-five 

 years, or nearly fourteen years beyond the average human 

 life." When it becomes necessary for the farmer to run 

 into debt in obtaining a farm, let him purchase a good one, 

 containing buildings suitable for occupancy and land in good 

 condition to produce good crops. A man Avithout capital 

 cannot often succeed when placed upon a poor, worn-out 

 farm. 



The valuable or important crop for the farmers of j^.lassa- 

 chusetts to prepare for the market is one that brings the 

 quickest and most substantial returns. If vegetables, milk, 

 butter, poultry and eggs Avill do this, they become the im- 

 portant crops. Fancy farming will not always pay ; earn- 

 est, intelligent farming will. There are many farmers in 

 our State who are at the present time sending large amounts 

 of money into the Western States, to be placed at interest or 

 invested with associations, in expectation of obtaining large 

 returns for their money. Such investments may prove 

 beneficial to some, while others are robbing their own farms 

 to benefit the cities and lands of the West. If this money 

 were invested in repairing their buildings,. in obtaining the 

 best farm implements, and in enriching their own land, it 

 would be a safe investment, bring in sure returns, and give 

 healthy satisfaction as well as lasting benefits. When the 

 land is in a high state of cultivation it can be made remuner- 

 ative, and when the farms are made to pay you will experi- 

 ence no more trouble in keeping the boys on the farm. 



When the young men and boys of New England are ready 

 and willing to engage in the healthful occupation of cultivat- 

 ing the soil, they will find that the inducements held out at 

 the present time in our own State are greater and more cer- 

 tain of bringing in safe returns than those of the prairies of 

 the West or in the gold and silver mines of Colorado. 

 Here, in the homes of our own State, one is not obliged to 

 endure the privations and hardships that generally have to 

 be experienced in the newer sections of the West, where it 

 often requires many years of hard, discouraging labor to 

 obtain the pleasures and receive the benefits of home life. 

 There are many pleasantly located houses in all parts of 

 New England that are rapidly going to decay, and yet they 



