354 BOAKD OF AGRICULTUKE. [Jan. 



every source. He will not confine his search for the secrets 

 of success to the operations of those engaged in kindred pur- 

 suits. He will early learn that agriculture is not an excep- 

 tional business, but that it is subject to the same laws of 

 trade that other callings are, and that the same causes lead to 

 success or failure in all vocations. He will see that the most 

 successful producer is the one that can place his product 

 before the consumer for a trifle less than any competitor, and 

 that where the profit on a single article is but a trifle, quanti- 

 ties must be produced to insure an income. 



Not long since we were told by a successful manufacturer 

 that he commenced business twenty-five years ago with small 

 capital and little knowledge of the business. At that time, 

 the profit on a five-thousand-dollar business gave him a fair 

 income ; now, with a business ten times as large, it requires 

 all the skill that years of experience have brought to insure 

 only the same net income. This is not an exceptional case. 

 In our fathers' day, the shoe-maker pounding his leather on 

 his lapstone and pegging his shoes upon his knee completed 

 one pair of shoes per day, and sold them at a living profit. 

 To-day, he who would make shoes at a profit must employ 

 powerful and costly machinery in large shops. He will be 

 able to tell you the number of pairs turned out per second 

 in his large establishment. Trades have been divided and 

 subdivided until a score or more are embraced in one. 

 Each of these has become a specialty, and successful men 

 in every industry are known as specialists. Are these 

 lessons not to be noted by the fanner? Can the novice 

 without experience or capital hope to compete successfully 

 with the expert having all these advantages? Can the 

 stranger in the market expect his mite of production to 

 receive notice beside that of large producers in charge of 

 sharp and experienced salesmen? The inevitable conclusion 

 is, that the " hand-to-mouth" " one-horse farmer" has had 

 his day.. Starvation, if nothing else, will force him out of 

 the business. Already the farms of Massachusetts have 

 increased in size until the average is nearly or quite ninety 

 acres each. This indicates progress, and is in keeping with 

 the changes in nearly every industry. Consolidation, con- 

 centration, combination, are the unmistakable tendencies of 



