142 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



study agricultural books and papers, and while they receive the 

 results of others' studies and labors with characteristic caution, 

 they are not slow to adopt wliatever i)romises to be useful ; for, 

 if pecuniary gain is their great motive to labor, they are aware 

 that they must choose the true principles of culture, and follow 

 the certain laws of nature as those laws have been ascertained 

 by careful observation and expounded by science. They are 

 disposed to ask not with how little information we can get 

 along, but what is the best method of reaping the reward of 

 labor bestowed upon the earth ? 



There are many, substantially, of this kind, who admit that 

 " there are no accidents in nature. What we fancy such are 

 the offspring of ignorance." Agriculture, like every thing 

 else, is governed by certain laws, tlie right knowledge and 

 observance of which are the only conditions of success. 



The fourth evidence of the progress of agriculture in the 

 county, is the actual increase of the value of farms. "We do 

 not refer solely to cash value in the market, in these times of 

 pecuniary embarrassment, but to tliis fact, tliat in consequence 

 of the better tillage they have received, they are capable of pro- 

 ducing^ larger crops in future. Any one familiar with the gen- 

 eral appearance of the county knows that important additions 

 have been made to their value in reclaimed meadows, in im- 

 proved mowings, in better pastures and implements ; that is, 

 in the means of making them more capal)le of production here- 

 after. A part of the profits have been invested in tlie business 

 for the purpose of securing a greater income. This is the 

 policy of good farmers, and distinguishes them from those who 

 skin the land for the largest immediate returns. 



Take an example that covers a long term. No doubt there 

 are scores of such, but one has frequently come under our 

 notice that deserves to be mentioned as an argument that under 

 certain conditions, farming is as profitable as any other business 

 employing the same amount of capital and labor. A man 

 whom we will call Mr. C, upwards of forty years ago bought a 

 farm of between thirty and forty acres. The land was ex- 

 hausted, the fences down, the buildings dilapidated. He paid 

 only a part of the price, and began in debt. He laid good 

 walls, dug drains, cleared up meadows, and made mowing fields 

 where bushes had grown. He kept a horse and four cows, and 



