50 BOARD OF AGlilCULTUKE. [Pub. Doc. 



day for the year, but sometimes in the year they have worked 

 a good many hours. A horse may make two trips to Boston, 

 and the distance is 1) miles ; but another day he may stand 

 in the barn pretty nearly all the time, — be out one hour, 

 perha})s. 



Question. Do you pay yoiu" laborers by the day? 



Mr. Howard. I pay the laborers by the day, or week, 

 or month. 



Question. Do you have a system of so many hours a 

 day? 



Mr. Howard. Yes ; some put in about ten and one-half 

 hours a -day ; they start at half-past 6 in the morning, with 

 an hour at noon, and work till 6 at night. 



Question. Can you do that through the months of No- 

 vember and December? 



Mr. Howard. During November they start at half-past 

 12 at noon and work until half-past 5, and are liable to 

 work till (), but not intentionally; and during December 

 there are fewer men, and we get through about 5 o'clock. 



Mr. N. B. Douglas (of Sherborn). I have been very 

 much interested and instructed by the paper read this morn- 

 ins: and the discussion which has since followed. I believe 

 our brother has struck the keynote of success in farming, 

 not only in market gardening but in general farming, — the 

 idea of knowing what a thing costs ; knowing what you are 

 doing; keeping accounts. I believe that it would be thou- 

 sands of dollars in the pockets of our Massachusetts farmers 

 every ^^ear if every one of them knew what they were doing 

 with th(!ir dairies, — if they knew which kind paid and 

 which kind did not. It does not pay to keep a cow a year, 

 and get $25 or $30, possibly, or even $40, in return, if it 

 costs $54 to keep her. We should know what she costs to 

 keep, and what she pays. I followed dairying over fifty 

 years, and during all that time I didn't know; but, thank 

 (iod, I have got on the other side now, and keep an ac- 

 count, and when I find a cow is living on me, she goes out 

 and lives on the other fellow, if she lives at all. And I 

 believe that is a step in the right direction. 



Mr. Powell. 1 have asked a number of questions of the 



