No. 4.] BUSINESS SIDE OF AGRICULTURE. 87 



are rushed all day. We noticed that toward the last part of 

 the day they did less and less work. This we had seen for 

 two or three years. They did not turn out the same amount 

 of work per hour, and sometimes there was some fruit left 

 over that ought to have been packed ; I conceived the idea 

 that to hurry these people up a little it might be well to 

 bring in a little music. I hired four pieces of music to go 

 into that shed every afternoon. I told them not to play any- 

 thing very lively the early part of the afternoon, but to keep 

 playing. "The last two hours give it to them; play the 

 liveliest music you can until dark." We keep account by 

 check of all the labor each one does, and then figure it out. 

 There was an increase of fully thirty per cent from two 

 o'clock until dark, and we had a good time, too. Hire music 

 on a farm to handle a farm crop. That is business. I do not 

 say it would work on every farm. When a man comes along 

 looking for work, find out whether he can whistle or not. If 

 he whistles a good deal he is likely to be a good laborer, and 

 will turn oft* more work than one who does not whistle. 

 Hire a man who never knows what time it is. There is 

 business in this point. 



One of our friends said here yesterday that Massachusetts 

 farming is drifting into specialties. That is true, because it 

 is the business side. It is business to specialize. Some one 

 has said that specialists in agriculture are going to drive 

 many of us into abandoning farming; that a few large farms 

 will kill out the small farms. I do not believe that will be 

 true to any great extent in New England. While I can see 

 that there are opportunities for extensive operations in New 

 England, as well as in other places, for special lines of 

 agriculture, and co-operation can be practised in that line 

 of work that will reduce cost of production and result in 

 greater profit than when carried on by individuals, I believe 

 there is a great opportunity for co-operation in agricultural 

 work in New England along special lines. The small 

 general farmer will always work individually, but there ia 

 plenty of opportunity for a man to be a specialist. A man 

 who has a love for any special animal or crop or in any 

 special line of agriculture has an opportunity to enjoy him- 

 self and to maintain a good position in a special line of 



