SECRETARY'S REPORT. 75 



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in the quantity of milk, which the farmer ought to know, 

 especially in a State where the sale of milk is so extensive as 

 with us, amounting to over eight hundred thousand dollars 

 annually. 



Every farmer would find it not only pleasant, but also useful 

 for reference from one year to another, if he would daily note 

 down his farm operations, and perhaps the weather. We know 

 how averse farmers are to writing, but this would not require 

 much penmanship in one of the cheap but useful " diaries " of 

 the day. Besides, in many farmers' families of the present 

 time, there is some one more ready to write than to work ; the 

 young women now will sooner pen than spin ; work crochet 

 better than butter ; and work at the piano, we will not say 

 better, but a good deal more than at the wash-tub or ironing- 

 board. Let such keep the diary. We quote some pertinent 

 remarks by a distinguished friend of agriculture, Rev. H. 

 Colman : " Few farmers keep any accounts whatever ; those 

 who do keep them, and are very competent to instruct the 

 community, suffer their modesty or diffidence to overbalance 

 the claims of the public good, which might be essentially served 

 by the exhibition of faithful and exact accounts. More atten- 

 tion should be paid to this in the schools ; it would prove of 

 rather more practical importance than to be able to work 

 embroidery and paint artificial flowers, to understand the 

 geography of the moon, and learn from a wood-cut all its 

 continents and volcanoes. It is to be added that agricultural 

 operations seldom admit of that exactness of account which 

 belongs to mercantile transactions, and that it is in most cases 

 only an approximation to accuracy which can be expected. 



The importance of this subject to the farmer cannot be over- 

 stated, and should not be overlooked. Farmers cannot be too 

 strongly urged to keep exact and faithful accounts with their 

 farms, their animals, and every crop which they raise. It 

 would immensely assist the improvement of their farms and 

 their own personal comfort and self-respect. 



It would enable them to decide intelligibly, and with confi- 

 dence what they had best cultivate, and what avoid ; it would 

 reveal to them their true condition, the knowledge of which is 

 essential to their safety, and sometimes save them from embar- 

 rassment, bankruptcy and ruin. Accurate accounts of expenses, 



