a class are so deficient, as in a regular system of keeping ac- 

 counts ; in knowing in dollars and cents what this or that 

 crop costs, or what is the actual profit from each animal. In 

 what other business could a man succeed, who was so gener- 

 ally negligent of his accounts ? These can be kept every day 

 in the most simple manner ; so that at the end of the year 

 he can easily see what it has cost the famil)^ for sugar, for 

 butter, for milk and for flour ; the cost and proceeds of every 

 animal and crop can also be very nearly estimated. The re- 

 sult would be that the yearly income from one cow would be 

 found to be thirty or forty dollars, that of another sevent}^- 

 five to a hundred ; one yoke of oxen would have depreciated 

 in value twenty-five or thirty dollars, while another would 

 have gained as much. It would be seen that two old broken 

 down horses would be less serviceable than one good one 

 well kept, and so on. 



A short time since, in talking with a smart, active New 

 Hampshire farmer, he said to me, "I can raise corn at thirty 

 cents per bushel." Being asked if he reckoned the loss to 

 his land, interest, taxes, etc., he replied, "No, if you reckon 

 all these, there is no profit in any crop." But they should 

 all be taken into the account ; then if it is found there is no 

 real profit, it shows the need of still closer observation and 

 care. 



Kecently, at a very pleasant dinner party, given by a gen- 

 tleman of this county, supposing he had owned his farm but 

 a few years, I asked him how long he had lived upon his es- 

 tate. His reply was, "Two hundred and fifty years." This 

 he immediately qualified by saying, "Perhaps one hundred 

 and fifty years, or ever since the settlement of the country." 

 Friends, many of you have lived upon your farms a hundred 

 and fifty years, and as you look back and see the work that 

 your fathers have accomplished, will you rest satisfied with 

 your present attainments ? The world moves forward ; in 

 science, in art, in agriculture, and those of you who will oc- 

 cupy these farms one hundred and fifty years hence, will, or 



