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more so than their employers, who must work more hours, and 

 diligently, too, in order to procure the means of paying their 

 wages ? And can any farmer in the county, in ordinary circum- 

 stances, support an additional increase of wages with a further re- 

 duction also of the hours of labor ? We cannot but regard the 

 very agitation of this question as productive of injury both to the 

 farmer and farm-laborer. One of the evils likely to result from 

 the change, if it be made, is foreshown in the fact, that, even 

 under the present system, the farmer does not have the full benefit 

 of the laborers' ability, at any wages, unless the laborer reside 

 with the farmer. For, as it has been said, the laborer will work 

 for hours at home, before he begins his labor abroad, and then 

 often give to his emplo^^er the remnant only of jaded powers and 

 half exhausted strength, for his daily wages. 



Another consequence of the change must necessarily be the 

 use of mechanical labor to such an extent as to do away, in a 

 great measure, with any necessity for manual labor, or the aban- 

 meiit of their occupation by many farmers. 



We proceed now to speak of farms which have been visited by 

 a portion of the Committee. 



Our first visit was on the 21st of August, to the farm cultivated 

 by Mr. A. W. Cheever, of West Wrentham. This farm, in the 

 name and under the management of Mr. Cheever's father, had 

 received the Society's premium in 1859. It has since been man- 

 aged by himself, and is now entered for a pi'emium in his own 

 name. 



We regard this as a perfectly legitimate entry. The interval 

 which has elapsed since the former entry, and the change in the 

 control and conducting of the farm render the present application 

 a perfectly proper one. 



Accordingly the farm was visited on two several occasions : — 

 August 21st and October 12th. The operations begun by the 

 father, of draining a very wet soil, parts of which could never be 

 travelled over or cultivated, and the removal of huge, unsightly 

 walls, laid up many years ago, rather as a means of diposing of 

 vast quantities of stones, than to answer any purpose of necessity 

 or utility as walls, had been continued by the son ; and new ope- 

 rations of similar character had been begun and progressed in to 

 a very considerable extent. The evident thoroughness and ben- 

 efit of all these operations, and the good judgment and skill dis- 

 played in them, struck every observer. The luxuriant crops of 

 grass appeared to be a sufficient return for all the labor and cost ; 

 and to this might be reasonably added, the couiparative neatness 

 and beauty of the place, resulting from the change. The smooth, 

 even surface of grounds recently laid down, indicated more than 



