86 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



is muscular labor. Brain labor sells for the most money. I 

 say to you young men here who are getting an education in 

 this college that there are better opportunities for you to-day, 

 financially, in Massachusetts agriculture than in any other 

 business in Massachusetts that I know of, and I know some- 

 thing of your other businesses. Some one hinted that you 

 had not much capital. You do not need much. If you have 

 a belief and faith in agriculture, and the ability to work out 

 that faith, there is money lying around idle for just such men. 

 A rhjht knowledge and handling of the soil is one of the 

 essentials to success in the work of agriculture. A few years 

 ago two men bought adjoining fields that were practically the 

 same, and had at one time been part of one farm. They were 

 upper hill-side pastures, somewhat w T et and springy. Both 

 were buying them for the same general purpose. Both were 

 in a hurry to get all they could out of them as quickly as 

 possible. One man got an engineer to plan a system of 

 drainage, and went all through the moist places and put in 

 drains to prepare his land for successful agriculture. He 

 dug ditches and rolled in stones and made suitable drains 

 four feet deep and four feet wide. He put in large boulders 

 at the bottom and filled in with smaller stones. He spent a 

 large amount of money in fitting up that land. The other 

 man carted off a few stones, and did not put in any drains ; 

 and they each planted a crop. The extra investment in the 

 business preparation for final success has paid many hundred 

 per cent. One has been a marvellous success, and the other 

 has been, not a miserable failure, but a fair average of the 

 Massachusetts and Connecticut farmer. One field is paying 

 big dividends, and the other may or may not be paying any. 

 It seems to me that there was business in one instance and a 

 lack of it in the other. It is difficult to figure on the cost 

 of labor in agriculture. All the labor on the farm cannot be 

 figured out at its exact cost. 



A little incident was brought to my mind last night in 

 speaking of the fruit industry outside of the State. In my 

 fruit-packing house in Georgia we employ two hundred and 

 twenty-five to three hundred hands in packing fruit. Fruit 

 must be packed and in refrigerator cars just as quickly as 

 possible. The packers begin at daylight in the morning and 



