1889.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 4. 335 



the record, — about one-fifth of one per cent. I venture to 

 say, that, if these could be traced, four-fifths Avould be found 

 to have failed in transactions outside of legitimate farminsr, — 

 such as signing notes for others, buying wild-cat patents, 

 assuming obligations too heavy to carry, or attempting to 

 combine with their fanning some other business for which 

 they were unfitted. 



This certainly does not look like a decline in the agricul- 

 ture of Massachusetts, and these facts stand in strong con- 

 trast to careless individual opinions and observations. 



For years has gone out the cry of ' ' Keep the boys on the 

 farm." This ad captandum wail, largely the stock of care- 

 less lecturers and newspaper writers, uttered without con- 

 sideration or sufficient reason, should be greatly modified. 

 To induce one boy to remain on the old homestead — to comfort 

 and assist the father and mother on the down hill of life ; to 

 care for the farm, and ultimately to become its owner and the 

 head of a new family, with the social, domestic, business, 

 political and religious responsibilities attending these — is a 

 consummation devoutly to be wished. 



But tlK)se who clamor to keep the boys on the farm do not 

 thoughtfully consider the condition of the farmers and their 

 farms, and still less from their narrow stand-point of vision 

 do they consider the laws of nature, under the ordering of 

 a Divine Providence, which compel the dispersion of these 

 families sooner or later. 



In the first place, see the situation of the farmer, his land 

 and buildings, as commonly found The average size of 

 farms is now about seventy-five acres ; fifty years ago, about 

 ninety-nine ; and the average number of children in a family, 

 about five. Now, to keep three or four boys on the same 

 farm, when they had attained their manhood, with an in- 

 stinctive and proper desire to be their own masters and to 

 be husbands and fathers, would be unreasonable and impos- 

 sible. A natural spirit of pride and independence would 

 forbid their long continuing as mere wage-workers. The 

 farm could not be made to support two or three families, 

 even if they attempted the impracticable scheme of a co- 

 operative system. It is not, in the ordinary experience of 

 mankind, possible for two or three families long to dwell in 



