150 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



mainly, is the reason why our farms are so unprofitable here in 

 New England. The general style of farming is, a farm of one 

 hundred or two hundred acres, and only a man and boy to 

 work it, and that boy employed only six or eight months in the 

 year. It is rare to find a farm with the requisite force upon it, 

 because the farmer has not faith in his business, wants to get 

 along with as little trouble as possible, is afraid to invest in stock 

 or labor, and so does not get more than three or four per cent, 

 for the amount of capital invested in the business. It does not 

 pay. We want more capital put into the business. Let the 

 farmer, instead of investing his accumulation of three or four 

 hundred dollars a year in railroad bonds, government bonds or 

 bank stock, invest it in his business. If he has flO,000 invested 

 in his farm, and but -12,000 worth of stock, let him increase his 

 stock, so that he may make more manure ; let him put up a 

 better barn and buildings, employ more labor, invest his money 

 in his business ; and he will, if he has faith in it and believes 

 that farming is going to pay, just as the merchant believes that 

 his business is going to pay. I think there should be a fund 

 (and perhaps Massachusetts is the best State to set the example,) 

 to help farmers who have the requisite skill but lack sufficient 

 capital. I think there should be a fund from the State, or from 

 some other source, that should be loaned to young men who get 

 started in farming, and have not the capital they need to make 

 improvements. Take, for instance, the improvement of under- 

 draining, which is very much needed on perhaps half the land 

 in Massachusetts. There are few farms that have not more or 

 less of their acres so wet that it will not pay to work them in 

 the condition in which they are. Now if the young farmer who 

 has not the requisite capital could go to a government fund, as 

 he can in England, I am told, and borrow enough to drain the 

 few acres that need draining, giving the government security in 

 the increased value of the land, which will be created by the 

 very fact that it is underdrained, it would be a great help to 

 him and a great help to the Commonwealth, because it would 

 increase its wealth and its taxable property. Now John John- 

 ston, the father of drainage in this country, says that two aver- 

 age farm crops upon drained land will pay for the whole expense. 

 It may be forty or fifty dollars an acre. Whatever it may be, if 

 it costs more than fifty dollars, two crops will pay for the whole 



