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lowing, the market, but it imposes iipou the manufacturer that 

 watchfulness of events, that study of tastes and that constant con- 

 tact, mental and physical, with moving currents, which alone can 

 insure against loss. 



The application is universal. The ruts of habit do not lead 

 along the highway of progress. Large men, with vision sharp- 

 ened by friction with the bustling activities of this new century, 

 are as necessary on the farm as elsewhere. So much more is in- 

 volved than simply to plow, plant, sow and harvest that the sub- 

 ject must be debated on a broader plane. It is easier to grow a 

 crop or make a product than it is to realize the most from it in the 

 market, yet every principle of economy demands that not only 

 shall all waste in growing or manufacturing be prevented, but 

 that there be no loss in disposing of what is produced. 



He who faces agricultural problems in these days, when compe- 

 tition is growing sharper and ever-widening areas are filling our 

 markets with the products of the land, must realize the complexity 

 of the situation. The necessity for maintaining the agriculture of 

 New England was never greater than at the present hour, and, 

 rightly considered, the outlook improves in spite of the difficulties 

 to be mentioned. At the same time the producer cannot hope for 

 higher prices to rule, and therefore must study the field to ascer- 

 tain, if possible, whether or not there is opportunity to reduce cost 

 of production, improve quality, hasten maturity or increase quan- 

 tity per head or per acre. 



The farm producer is not exempt from the general law of busi- 

 ness which imposes these same obligations on every one who would 

 succeed. If, then, it be true that the principles of business govern 

 here as elsewhere, the question may well be considered from a 

 purely business stand-point. 



How reduce cost of production? For tlie past quarter of a 

 century this has been the query facing the manufacturer in every 

 department of labor. That it might be compassed the inventive 

 genius of the age has been searching, with fine mathematical 

 adjustments, that construction of machinery which might reduce 

 friction, do away with hand labor and increase product. The 

 results attest the skill of the mechanic and the genius of the inven- 

 tor. The farmer is to-day a manufacturer, in that the controlling 

 conditions impose artificial relations and restrictions. 



No man has yet compassed the capacity of machinery ; no one 

 realizes the power of nature to respond to an intelligent invitation. 

 The milk maker who cannot tell what the product is per year for 

 each individual cow is suffering from a loss of surprising magni- 

 tude, even though the average of the herd is above the cost limit. 



