98 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



your neighbors supply your beans and pease, and your inciden- 

 tal wants, but devote yourself to that work of a lifetime, the 

 knowledge of all which appertains to a single branch of hus- 

 bandry. By so doing you raise your articles or animals cheaper 

 than your neighbor, your product is better and more abundant, 

 and your market is constant, well known to you, and always in 

 the same direction. But time will not permit me to linger 

 upon this topic, of which much has been said already. I con- 

 tent myself with stating that successful agriculture can no 

 longer exist in New England under any other system. 



There is another custom, well known in this country, which 

 prevails, so far as I know, throughout Europe, but wliich we 

 have never adopted. I allude to free and open markets and 

 market days. In every central village, and in every city, on 

 two or three days of the week, you see a large square or a 

 street a quarter of a mile in length devoted to a market. The 

 producer is brought face to face with the consumer, and tlie 

 household is thus supplied directly from the farm or market 

 garden. Under our system the producer does not obtain a fair 

 price for his labor, the consumer pays an exorbitant price, and 

 one, two, three and sometimes more middle-men take the lion's 

 share. A monopoly is created which to a great extent regulates 

 prices, and produce is often wasted, or given away, or destroyed, 

 to sustain the market. Mr. Quincy has been honored, among 

 many things for which he was so well worthy of honor, for the 

 erection of Quincy Market. I believe it was more injurious to 

 the people of Boston and the Commonwealth than any public 

 act of its citizens. It is reported that while his son was mayor 

 of that city hundreds of bushels of peaches were thrown into 

 the harbor, in preference to effecting a ready sale by a reduction 

 of prices. We have committees of the city and State govern- 

 ments, year after year, who investigate this question. How 

 happens it that nothing comes from these inquiries ? We are 

 told that the agricultural interests of the State are on the 

 decline. Let the farming interest of Massachusetts demand a 

 law that every city, aye, and every town of upwards of 5,000 in- 

 habitants, shall furnish free and open market-places for all, pro- 

 tected when required from the inclemency of the weather, and 

 a more lively encouragement maybe furnished to the producing 

 interest than all your cattle shows, your Agricultural College 



