LEGISLATIVE AIDS TO AGRICULTURE. 21 



of the year there is a corresponding reduction which makes the 

 average quite low. Is not this cause found in the fact that, as a 

 rule, the farm laborer, both male and female, is furnished with 

 subsistence by the farmer ? The mechanic in the village or city 

 finds that his wages will not provide meat and bread for his wife, 

 himself and little ones, and especially when are added the wants 

 that the village and city seem to bring up as necessaries of life, 

 and therefore he strikes for more pay. But the laborer board- 

 ing at the farmer's table is indifferent to the price of meat ; that, 

 in his mind, affects the farmer alone. He is to have so much 

 per day or week or month and be " found," and he has therefore 

 but little concern with the price of flour or the quotations of the 

 Brighton market. So that, in this way, the farmer may be said 

 to pay high wages, because, in fact, all that the workman has as 

 wages in any employment is the surplus after providing for his 

 subsistence, and the farm laborer subsisted by the farmer is like- 

 ly to find a larger surplus at the end of the season than the me- 

 chanic who shall have had nominally one-third or one-half more. 

 Another reason why agricultural production has not increased 

 in the same ratio with that of other branches of industry is, that 

 it is impossible, in the nature of things, to apply to it, in any 

 considerable degree, the great power of association of capital 

 which is so successful in every other department of life. Up to 

 a certain limit only is capital of any use to enhance the profits 

 of farming. It may and does beautify the farm. It may and 

 does make it blossom as a rose. But capital rarely, if ever, 

 finds any reward in what has come to be known among practi- 

 cal men as " fancy farming." No association of men have ever 

 undertaken to aggregate their capital for the purpose of increas- 

 ing the profits of agriculture. No association of men have ever 

 tried upon the farm even the co-operative system of labor, if we 

 except a few enthusiasts for religious purposes ; and even those 

 with indifferent success, save when they have worked small man- 

 ufactories in connection with their farming pursuits. No Act 

 of incorporation was ever asked or granted by the legislature to 

 raise corn, or wheat, or potatoes. Therefore it is, that while 

 every other human pursuit has been aided by association, and 

 very largely by direct legislation, nothing has been or can be 

 done by law specifically to aid the farmer, or generally, except 

 to protect him, his property, his earnings and his rights ; but 



