364 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



A LESSON IN ECONOMICS : WHAT THE AGRICULTURE 

 OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY DEMANDS. 



BY DR. G. M. TWITCHELU, EDITOH " MAINE FARMER," AUGUSTA, ME. 



The consideration of the question of economics imposes 

 obligations on the writer or speaker not to be neglected, 

 else failure is sure to result. It is easy to cry out against 

 recognized practices, and, viewing the situation from the 

 outside, bearing none of the weight of responsibility, criti- 

 cise existing conditions and standards. At the same time, 

 standing on the inside, conscious of the difficulties confront- 

 ing, there is grave danger that established practices and 

 habits may blind to the importance of open-eyed vision, of 

 being watchful of all changes and prepared to adjust when 

 good business suggests, or reconstruct when by reconstruc- 

 tion more is to be obtained. The fundamentals of all busi- 

 ness remain the same ; it is the adjustments which time is 

 constantly modifying, and wise is he whose linger is on the 

 pulse of trade to feel the variations and note intelligently 

 their significance. 



Agriculture forms no exception to the rule, and here, 

 perhaps, is the lesson most difficult to learn. Life on the 

 farm, the very conditions attending operations there, leads 

 to deliberate action. One cannot thrust into the business 

 the restless energy possible on State Street, Boston, and 

 this deliberation may act as a barrier to the adjustment of 

 methods and practices which the changing conditions of 

 business first suggest and afterward render imperative. 



Economy as applied to an industry must have a wide 

 significance. It necessitates not only the completest elimi- 

 nation of waste, both in time, material and labor ; it requires 

 not only the readjustments of methods and products, with 

 the sole thought of leading, not following, the market, but 



