143 



up and selling the cabbage will amount to three. Farmers 

 that live a distance from market should aim to produce 

 such crops as can be profitably manufactured on the farm. 

 Massachusetts cannot compete with the West in grain 

 growing nor with the Southwest in beef production, but 

 in products that require intelligence and skill, the odds 

 will be in her favor. 



My object in writing this paper is to encourage young 

 men who are about to enter upon their life work, to take 

 up farming, and those that have had poor success to try 

 again. That agriculture offers the best opportunity to de- 

 velop the pliysical, intellectual and moral faculties of a 

 man is not disputed. I believe that farming pays a better 

 per cent, to a certain limit (and that limit depends upon 

 the ability of the man) than any other business. The man 

 that farms intelligently is sure of a comfortable living. 



The conditions of success are that we make our pro- 

 ducts of the very best quality. That we study our busi- 

 ness and then put the best there is in us into it. That we 

 always do the best we know. So many of us fail to do 

 this that the wonder is not that our farms pay so poorly, 

 but that they pay as well as they do. Few of us realize 

 how far we come short of making our farms produce what 

 they might. None of us know the possibilities of pro- 

 duction. To most of us 225 bushels of shelled corn, 1061 

 bushels potatoes and 11 1-3 tons of Hubbard squash to the 

 acre seems incredible. Nevertheless such crops have been 

 raised. Many of us fail to save in the best possible man- 

 ner what our farms have produced. 



Again how much we lose in failing to feed in such 

 combinations and in such a way and at such a time as will 

 give the best results. How much we lose by keeping in- 

 ferior animals. The best are none too good for all. Farm- 

 ing in the future will demand more thinking and less 

 muscle. The successful farmer must plan wisely and ex- 

 ecute his plans skilfully. As a business man he must 

 adopt business methods. He must respect himself and his 

 calling: and others will do the same. 



