25 



If the statements I have made arc in the main correct, it is 

 manifest that at i)rescnt there is no roval road to pecuniarv 

 success in agricultural pursuits, at least hi New England. 

 Some doubting agricultural Thomases even claim that there 

 is no path here to satisfactory financial results, and tliat capi- 

 tal and labor yield in farming, more meigre returns than in 

 .any other business. On tlie other hand, the outside world com- 

 ..monly regards us as clu'onic grumblers. It says we are always 

 complaining of short crops of hay, rotting potatoes, extreme 

 drought or too much wet, Avhile in fact we generally pay our 

 bills, appear to have enough to cat, and sometimas ha\e a lit- 

 tle monc\- in the bank, and we are ti-iumpliantly asked " Who 

 .ever knew a farmer to f ul ?" 



Such remarks always remind me of a good neighbor who 

 ■was terribly afflicted with periodical fits of sick headache. At 

 these times he was obliged to give up work and retire to bed. 

 His thrifty wife had ne^•er suffered the torments of this dis- 

 •order, and thinking, probably, that a little energy and resolu- 

 tion would o^-ercome the trouble, used to drive the good man 

 up to his Avork with the consoling remark : " Nobody ever died 

 'of sick headache." Farmers never " /<f?7 " in the business 

 csense of that word, because their liabilities are mostly for 

 Teal estate, which, if not paid for, is usually mortgaged ; but 

 we have all known frequent instances of farmers who have 

 .bought farms on credit and were unable to keep them. 



The truth, however, lies between the two extremes, as in 

 "the well known instance of the two ancient knights, who quar- 

 reled about the composition of the shield. Farmers generally 

 seem prosperous, and the reason is that as a class they have the 

 faculty of living within their means. If they lay up money 

 they do it by not spending, rather than by large profits. The 

 truth is, my friends, we cannot reasonably expect our business 

 to yield very large money returns. It is a well established law 

 of political economy, that any occupation pays a profit in pro- 

 portion to the risk involved. Tliis rule applies to all pursuits 



