i8 



rence, Metlmen, the Audovers and Amesbury; the tan- 

 neries of Peabody and Salem ; the shoe factories of Lynn 

 and Haverhill, and many of the smaller towns : the car- 

 riage manufacturing of Amesbury and Merrimac : the 

 fisheries of Gloucester and the quarrying of Rockport y 

 with the great variety of smaller industries in almost 

 every town; and then ask yourselves if the farmer's 

 opportunities and advantages in Essex county are equalled 

 by those of any other. 



But " does farming pay?" is the question often asked, 

 and properly. Without stopping to ask what the ques- 

 tioner means by "pay," or to discuss what is a fair equiva- 

 lent for a man's labor of brain, or hand, or both, save to 

 answer no, if he means a great fortune, as that word goes 

 nowadays, 1 have only time to say this, in closing this 

 address. 



Confessedly agriculture is the great business of this 

 country. It leads every other, almost all others put to- 

 gether. It is the foundation of all material national 

 prosperity and success. However many failures there are 

 in it, however many who are poor, who live from hand to 

 mouth (and all statistics, confirmed by any careful obser- 

 vation and investigation, will show there are less than in 

 any other occupation), can it be possible that a business 

 which has more invested in it, and the products of which 

 are greater than in any other, that carries every other on 

 its back and the back not broken yet, but rather growing 

 stiffer and stronger every dny y can fail to be reasonably 

 remunerative at least, to him who conducts it wisely ? 

 The truth is, some it pays, and some it does not ; like 

 every other business, it depends on the man. 



To the farmer his farm is the principal part of his 

 capital. If he allows a large part of it to lie idle, neg- 



