OUR PRODUCING INDUSTRIES. 63 



best market, nor can he create one, for he is not a reliable pro- 

 ducer. He is in the hands of the middleman, and of the market, 

 whatever it is ; for his products of each sort are so limited in 

 amount that he can have no control of it, or influence, except to 

 depress it and injure others. In this case, also, the cost of mar- 

 keting is a large share of the gross proceeds, for it takes as much 

 time to sell each of his kinds of produce as it would if he had ten 

 or a hundred times as much to sell. 



Now instead of pursuing agricultural business in this way,let 

 the farmer select one or two branches of culture which would 

 follow each other in rotation, for which he has a taste, tlie pur- 

 suit of which surrounding circumstances favor ; procure the best 

 appliances and skill known ; by thought, care and study discover 

 new and better methods ; bend all his power and thoughts to 

 make the best article and the greatest quantity at the cheapest 

 cost, and he will, in a measure, control or make his market, and 

 have no occasion to complain that other pursuits are more remu- 

 nerative than his. 



Finally, if the Massachusetts farmer would make the most of 

 his advantages, he must educate himself for his business, and 

 for the position which the wants of this intelligent age demand. 

 That general intelligence and special education of a high order 

 are essential to the successful pursuit of agriculture, would 

 seem to be an axiom to which all would assent. But the fact 

 is far otherwise. The shadow of a darker age than the one in 

 which we now live yet overspreads and lingers upon us, and 

 often in this matter darkens the understanding and perverts 

 the judgment of well meaning and well educated men. The 

 idea that agriculture is a practical pursuit ; that it is one re- 

 quiring energy and labor, and that therefore well-knit bones, 

 tough, elastic muscles, are about the only requisite ; that in- 

 telligence and education unfits a man, or disinclines him to 

 engage in a laborious pursuit as this is said to be, is the honest 

 opinion of a great many, and of some, I fear, who do not 

 choose to avow it. 



Agriculture is a practical pursuit, requiring hard work and 

 energy, practical knowledge, and practice, to make it a success. 

 But it is no more so than that of the medical jjrofession, no 

 more than of the engineer, no more than the artisan or manu- 

 facturer. Practical knowledge is the test of your physician's 



