18 MR. hazen's address. 



much by the judicious selection and adaptation ol» seeds, imple- 

 ments, manures and animal strength. In short every move- 

 ment on the farm, whether of permanent arrangement, or of daily 

 labor, is, in this respect, a matter of gain or loss. Whatever can 

 be accomplished in this way towards diminishing the charges of 

 production, is so much added to the profits of the business. All 

 such intellectual and mechanical contrivances which lessen the 

 amount and expense of labor, are as necessary and as much supe- 

 rior in point of public utility to the same improvements in manu- 

 factures, as the objects of their production are more necessary. 



One of the first results that will spring from the adoption of 

 more scientific views, will be greater system in the managenjent of 

 farms. Your attention was called on a former anniversary to the 

 deficiencies arising from a want of system.* It has been said that 

 there is no business so made up of minute details as that of the 

 faniier, and it is always mentioned as one of the inevitable disad- 

 vantages to which agriculture is subjected, that it does not admit 

 of those divisions of labor, which so much facilitate manufactures. 



It is obvious that the greater is the number of circumstances 

 incidental to an occupation, the stronger is the necessity for their 

 reduction to the best possible method and order ; and the less 

 chance there is for a division of labor, the more regularity should 

 there be in the order in which its details are committed to the 

 hands of the operator. 



The adoption of system in husbandry is apt to induce that 

 minute attention and close observation on which its success so 

 much depends. Every thing in its turn and degree will then 

 receive the care and attention which are its due. The profits of 

 nearly all business are made up from small gains and savings, the 

 fruits at once of frugality and vigilance. These are the life 

 blood of agriculture. If they are wasted, its vigor soon feels the 

 decay ; its resources become exhausted ; the means of improved 

 and extended cultivation fail ; industry seems fruitless ; labor 

 finds only half its returns ; the farmer has reached the meridian 

 of his years ; independence and ease still lie at a distance be- 



* Address of Hon. James H. Duncan, 1830-p. 10, 



