FARMS. 63 



vealed to us at once the secret of bis apparent success. Hi3 

 example affords a rebuke to many, and an incitement to all. 

 So important to the farmer is the habit of keeping exact ac- 

 counts, that we recommend to the society to withhold any pre- 

 mium which would otherwise be given to an individual whose 

 accounts do not show the cost of the article presented for pre- 

 mium. 



In connection with the cost of agricultural productions, the 

 question is suggested, Why do we so seldom hear of appren- 

 tices to farmers ? Is it because a knowledge of farming comes 

 by nature, or because young men think that the time spent 

 in apprenticeship would be lost ? The present unusually high 

 prices paid for ignorant and inefficient help would seem to in- 

 dicate a different conclusion. We pay too much for what life 

 and interest our common foreign laborers exhibit — too much 

 for what is actually done — too much in proportion to the prices 

 of what we sell from the farm. And as in all departments of 

 manufacturing and mechanical pursuits skilful labor is found 

 to be most profitable to the employer, may we not presume 

 that such would be the case in farming — most profitable and 

 most satisfactory to all parties ? If this presumption is just, 

 it would justify some of our enterprising young men in appren- 

 ticing themselves to the best farmers and gardeners, with a 

 view to become thoroughly acquainted with the business both 

 as an art and a science. We believe that ultimately they 

 would be gainers by this course — would find steady and re- 

 munerating employment. Calls are now occasionally made for 

 well-qualified young men to manage market-gardening estab- 

 lishments and large farms. And if such calls could be satisfac- 

 torily answered, no doubt they would be multiplied. With the 

 increased interest now felt in agriculture in this vicinity, and the 

 number of wealthy men engaged in it, there must be a growing 

 demand for skilful labor. And would not such labor on a farm 

 be as honorable as selling tape from behind a counter, and a3 

 profitable, in the long run, as mining in California ? Besides, 

 it would tend to raise and improve the character of all farming 

 labor — to make it as reputable as it is indispensable. By the 

 example and success of a few leading men, school teaching has 

 been elevated to the rank and pay of a learned profession, and 



