54 



and furnish an additional source of interest in every operation 

 connected with farming. 



"We have in mind an instance of such method and exactness of 

 farm accounts by a young farmer in this County, -which revealed 

 to us, at once, the secret of his apparent success. His example 

 affords a rebuke to many, and an incitement to all. So important 

 to the farmer is the habit of keeping exact accounts, that we re- 

 commend to the Society to withhold any premium, which would 

 otherwise be given to an individual, whose accounts do not show the 

 cost of the article presented for premium. 



In connection with the cost of agricultural productions, the ques- 

 tion is suggested, why do we so seldom hear of apprentices to 

 farmers ? Is it because a knowledge of farming comes by nature ? 

 Or, because young men think that the time spent in apprenticeship 

 would be lost ? The present unusually high prices paid for igno- 

 rant and inefficient help would seem to indicate a different conclu- 

 sion. We pay too much for what life and interest our common 

 foreign laborers exhibit, — too much for what is actually done, — too 

 much in proportion to the (prices of what we sell from the farm. 

 And as in all departments of manufacturing and mechanical pur- 

 suits, skilled labor is found to be most profitable to the employer, 

 may we not presume that such would be the case in farming, most 

 profitable and most satisfactory to all parties ? If this presump- 

 tion is just, it would justify some of our enterprising young men in 

 apprenticing themselves to the best farmers and gardeners, with a 

 view to become thoroughly acquainted with the business as both 

 an art and a science. We believe that ultimately they would be 

 gainers by this course, — would find steady and remunerating em- 

 ployment. Calls are now occasionally made for well quahfied 

 young men to manage market-gardening estabhshments and large 

 farms. And if such calls could be satisfactorily answered, no 

 doubt they would be multiplied. With the increased interest now 

 felt in agriculture in this vicinity, and the number of wealthy men 

 engaged in it, there must be a growing demand for skilled labor. 

 And would not such labor on a farm be as honorable as selhng 

 tape from behind a counter, and as profitable, in the long run, as 

 mining in California ? Besides, it would tend to raise and improve 

 the character of all farming labor, — to make it as reputable as it 

 is indispensable. By the example and success of a few leading 



