29 



BULLETIN OF 



Massachusetts Board of Agriculture. 



A LESSON IN ECONOMICS : WHAT THE AGRICULTURE 

 OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY DEMANDS. 



By G. M. TwiTCHELL, Editor " Maine Farmer,'' Augusta, Me. 



The consideration of the question of economics imposes obliga- 

 tions on the writer or speaker not to be neglected, else failure is 

 sure to result. It is easy to cry out against recognized practices, 

 and, viewing the situation from the outside, bearing none of the 

 weight of responsibility, criticise existing conditions and standards. 

 At the same time, standing on the inside, conscious of the difficul- 

 ties confronting, there is grave danger that established practices 

 and habits may blind to the importance of open-eyed vision, of 

 being watchful of all changes and prepared to adjust when good 

 business suggests, or reconstruct when by reconstruction more is 

 to be obtained. The fundamentals of all business remain the 

 same ; it is the adjustments which time is constantly modifying, 

 and wise is he whose finger is on the pulse of trade to feel the 

 variations and note intelligenth' their significance. 



Agriculture forms no exception to the rule, and here, perhaps, 

 is the lesson most difficult to learn. Life on the farm, the very 

 conditions attending operations there, leads to deliberate action. 

 One cannot thrust into the business the restless energy possible on 

 State Street, Boston, and this deliberation may act as a barrier to 

 the adjustment of methods and practices which the changing con- 

 ditions of business first suggest and afterward render imperative. 



Economy as applied to an industry must have a wide significance. 

 It necessitates not only the completest elimination of waste, both 

 in time, material and labor ; it requires not only the readjustments 

 of methods and products, with the sole thought of leading, not fol- 



