No. 4.] JUDGING BY SCALE OF POINTS. 101 



State, through the Board of Agriculture, for two reasons, 

 either of which fully justify the claim. 



First, because it is necessary in order to establish justice 

 between exhibitors, and place awards in accordance with 

 merit ; and second, because of the imperative necessity for 

 raising the standard of quality in all exhibits. 



The day has gone when we may expect increased price 

 for farm, garden, orchard or manufactured products. For 

 years we have been approaching this lower range of values. 

 Let no one fear that this or that industry has failed to be 

 remunerative so long as the limit of production is beyond 

 our comprehension and the saving in production an unknown 

 quantity. Seeking earnestly, continuously, intelligently for 

 the higher quality and lower cost, the margin of profit will 

 always be assured. 



Along this line and this alone lies the path of progress 

 for the farmers of New England. 



Against the bulk of the West we must set the finish of the 

 East ; against the volume from the prairies must be placed 

 the skill of the older sections ; against the quantity pouring 

 into our markets — the great consuming centres of the coun- 

 try — must be ranged the higher quality which by keen 

 study, close application and a just discrimination of the rela- 

 tion part bears to part, may be insured the growers and pro- 

 ducers of the old Bay State. We cannot till a thousand 

 acres at a net profit of $2 per acre, but we can till one hun- 

 dred at a net profit of $20. We cannot produce a horse to 

 weigh twelve hundred and sell for $80, as can the farmer of 

 low^a or Kansas, but we can produce a better animal, with a 

 higher range of intelligence, greater brain capacity and supe- 

 rior road qualities, which, undeveloped, will sell for $200 or 

 more. 



We cannot, perhaps, grow 3-cent beef, but we can at the 

 same cost grow 25-cent butter. The things we can do and 

 the stock we can raise, the crops adapted to our time and 

 climate, may all be made to give better returns and larger 

 profits per acre, per pound or per bushel than is possible 

 outside our borders. Hemmed in under certain conditions 

 as we are, it is only that the higher levels may be reached. 

 The man who finds the path to prosperity under any re- 



