54 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



the hands of tho surgeon who gives his whole attention to the 

 bones and muscles, much less in the hands of the physician 

 who furnishes pills, powders and drops for the stomach. If 

 farmers desire to keep up with the times they must study this 

 division of labor, and by concentrating their energies on some 

 specific branch, rise to eminence. We have among us some 

 notable examples of the success attainable by this concentration 

 of effort. Some ten miles south from here lives a friend of 

 mine on liis broad ley — contracted into Bradley — who for years 

 has made the bees his study. The consequence is, he knows all 

 about them, handles them with impunity as a child does the 

 kitten, makes an abundance of honey, and what is better au 

 abundance of money. His fame may not be as extensive as 

 Solomon's, and we never knew the queen of Sheba come to visit 

 him, but the she bees go at liis bidding to all parts of the coun- 

 try, and he has more kings and queens as his guests daily than 

 Solomon ever heard of. If my friend has not a high social 

 position, then daily association with royalty cannot confer it. 

 At all events, he has the consciousness of eminence and useful- 

 ness in his line, adding sweetness to the life of multitudes, and 

 governing a hundred colonies that cheerfully pay him a large 

 income tax. I know of no other farmer in the county who has 

 so many laborers in his service, or directs his employees more 

 skilfully. But we cannot all associate with kings and queens, 

 nor have sucli a retinue of servants, as the broad-ley farmer. 



I will refer you only to one other example of great success in 

 turning attention to one line of farming. Some ten miles east 

 of us, on the hills of Hinsdale, lives a young farmer who has 

 made a specialty of raising stock. Though scarcely out of his 

 teens, his name stands high on the list, if not at the head, of 

 breeders of Durhams. He surely has no reason to complain of 

 his social position, for dukes and duchesses constantly share his 

 hospitality. So well bred is his stock, that a single animal is 

 worth more than a large herd of the common grade. We do 

 not all have the facilities for special farming which the young 

 Hinsdale farmer possesses, but we all liave tastes which incline 

 us to one branch of farming rather than to another, and I am 

 sure if we cultivate this taste and bend our ejiergies in this 

 one direction, we shall have more satisfaction in ourselves, do 

 more good to society, and consequently stand higher in the esti- 



