182 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



man in New England ; the perfect neatness in kitchen, bed- 

 room and wood-shed ; the little economies practised to make 

 both ends meet, and yet, the generous hospitality displayed 

 at the table at which he sat and dined. 



But what has all this to do with stock-husbandry, or dairy- 

 ing in Massachusetts? Something, I hope. I would have 

 the farmers of Massachusetts know that the competition from 

 the West is not nearly so bad to butt against as many of us 

 have imagined. Good, rich land, free from all obstructions, 

 has a tendency to make a man grow lazy. He falls into the 

 habit of depending for his income upon just what his land 

 will annually produce under a system of culture requiring 

 the least amount of lalior. Good land that is somewhat ob- 

 structed by rocks and stumps, or that needs draining to ren- 

 der it perfect for cultivation, will bring out a man's enter- 

 prise if Le has any in him. The very effort required 

 sharpens one's wits, stimulates energy, and gives one almost 

 a love for his work. From the reports of others I had be- 

 lieved that as good places for carrying on farming, either 

 upon a small or upon an extended scale, could be found in 

 Massachusetts as elsewhere ; but that belief has been greatly 

 strengthened by my summer's experience. The average farm- 

 er who cultivates the land in Massachusetts is quite as well 

 paid, and is quite as well off every way, all things consid- 

 ered, as is the average farmer anywhere else. When I last 

 spoke before this Board, I said that I had come to look upon 

 the artificially prepared, concentrated fertilizers as the pow- 

 erful lever by which the intelligent farmers are going to be 

 able to completely upset and revolutionize the prevailing 

 sentiment concerning New England agriculture. I do not 

 wish to retract that statement now. Commercial fertilizers 

 will give any farmer, having faith in them, and the intelli- 

 gence necessary for their judicious purchase and use, the 

 power to take a run-down farm, and almost immediately put 

 it into a productive condition. Fertilizers will also enable 

 the farmer having a farm that is not half utilized, to put the 

 whole, or whatever portion he chooses, into as good condi- 

 tion for use as the small part that he has been cultivating. 

 We need no longer wait the slow process of building up and 

 improving a run-down farm from its internal resources alone. 



