10 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



hurricane. And still of this quahty our farming yeomanry are 

 not deficient, and tliey will be false to their past history and 

 their parentage when they show any lack of this element. But 

 for all that they need a courage which I fear but few of them 

 possess, — a courage less brilliant, perhaps, than that which has 

 won fame for the heroes of those desperate battles which have 

 drenched our soil with fraternal blood, and filled the land with 

 the wail of thousands of widows and the cry of hundreds of 

 thousands of orphans. They need a courage which will face 

 and overcome all difficulties in acquiring knowledge ; which 

 will pay its price and test the value of the application of science 

 to labor ; which is not afraid of large expenditures in permanent 

 improvements. A courage that will put into operation labor- 

 saving machines ; that will lay draining pipes ; that will not be 

 afraid of innovation upon farm ideas and practice. A courage 

 that will stock their farms with the best herds of cattle ; a 

 courage that will resolutely keep pace with scientific progress 

 in other industries. 



One great fault of our farmers is, they are afraid of spending 

 money in their business. If their farms are paid for, they think 

 putting money in the savings bank, or letting it out upon 

 mortgage securities, or timidly investing it in a few railroad or 

 bank shares, the best uses to which they can apply their earn- 

 ings. What would be the fate of the merchant who should act 

 upon this principle ; who should be afraid to invest his profits 

 in increasing his business capital up to the wants and capacity 

 of his trade ? Without increasing his capital, he might continue 

 to do a safe and limited business ; but the luxury of great 

 liberality, which wealth rightly used affords, would never be 

 within his reach, and we should have neither princely mer- 

 chants, nor merchants with princely fortunes. Without business 

 courage, the stage coach would never have given place to the 

 swift and commodious rail-car, nor would steam have held its 

 direct course upon the ocean against wind and tide. Where is 

 the farm in our county that has been made to yield to its full 

 ability ? Where the farmer to-day who cannot make improve- 

 ments that will pay more than six per cent, upon the money 

 needed for such improvements; and which, at the same time, 

 will stand as the best of securities for the capital invested. 



