90 BOARD OF AGRICULTUEE. 



The soil, culture and kind of fertilizer best adapted to 

 the plant, and in fact everything pertaining to its perfect 

 development, would be clearly and fully understood. Simi- 

 lar results might reasonably be expected by giving special 

 attention to other crops. The larger the number of crops 

 grown the greater the variety of tools and implements called 

 into requisition. Many of these are used but a few days in 

 the year ; all must be repaired, stored and cared for, form- 

 ing an item of labor and expense not to be overlooked. 

 Then in regard to labor : the man or boy who is an expert 

 at hoeing onions, thinning fruit or setting strawberry plants 

 will do twice the work in a day and do it better than a com- 

 mon farm-hand who turns his hand to everything but can do 

 nothing very well. As labor is the largest item in the cost 

 of nearly all crops grown, it must be admitted that the spe- 

 cialist in this respect would have an advantage which one 

 engaged in mixed farming could not be expected to have. 

 The chronic objection urged against specialists is the risk of 

 a failure : one crop is more likely to fail than all of several ; 

 it is not safe to risk all your eggs in one basket. To which 

 we might reply that he who has too many irons in the fire is 

 pretty sure to get some of them burnt. We have already 

 asserted that the growing of special crops means better and 

 higher culture, and where this is practised to its fullest extent 

 the chances of failure are reduced to the minimum. Where 

 the habits and wants of a plant have been made a special 

 study, and those wants are fully supplied by an intelligent 

 cultivator, success is about as sure to follow his labor as is 

 the return of seed-time and harvest. It must be admitted 

 also that the scarcity which follows a partial failure raises 

 prices, and the cultivator is often reimbursed at the expense 

 of the consumer. One should not decide hastily in the 

 choice of crops that he will grow as specialties. Many 

 things are to be taken into the account, all of which are 

 important ; the soil, the climate, the facilities for marketing, 

 the amount of capital one has to work with, the character of 

 the labor to be depended on. If a man is not settled in the 

 business of farming, but is only looking for a gainful vocation, 

 let him reflect that success depends mainly upon the natural 

 or inherent liking for the occupation he is destined to pursue. 



