SECRETARY S REPORT. 5 



by experimenting. He wanted young men and women to 

 love the farm ; he wanted the young women to understand 

 good cooking, saying in this connection that for good, whole*, 

 some, healthy cooking New England maidens could beat 

 the world. In his town an extra premium was awarded to the 

 young lady under twenty who would make the best bread. 



Hon. Daniel Needham of Groton, said the great difficulty 

 in New England was that young men will not make farming 

 a business. He goes where he thinks he can make the most 

 money. But our young farmers go westward, for they find 

 there more pay for their work. What do we lack? Not 

 implements or inventive power, but method and system. 

 Here he keeps in the old ruts, but in the West he strikes out 

 for himself in new ways. If they would do the same here, 

 and abandon old ways, making a business of his work, he was 

 sure it would pay far better than at the West. Sheep culture 

 was the most paying of agricultural pursuits for the hills of 

 this vicinity and in other places in New England. Find out 

 what pays best and devote attention to that. Bring sheep to 

 the Fairs and advertise your stock in the papers ; make your 

 work and your flocks known and it will be in demand. 

 Don't go on the principle that a horse is a horse, because a 

 horse' isn't a horse. It don't cost more to keep good stock 

 than that of a poor quality. There was no reason why New 

 England farmers should not be the best in the world. One 

 man told him that he had raised four tons of grapes on an 

 acre of ground in Fitchburg this year, on which he had spent 

 but three weeks labor. At twenty cents a pound, that gave 

 sixteen hundred dollars receipts from that one acre. It is 

 profitable to be enterprising, and the farmer can be so as well 

 as any one else. 



Mr. J, T. Everett of Princeton, made a few remarks, 

 urging the more thorough study of farming pursuits. 



Hon. Alvah Crocker paid some attention to the agricul- 

 tural question " Will it pay ? " making its application to this 

 rocky gorge of northern Worcester, and thought it would. 



