ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 87 



Estimates may be made of cost of crops as follows: It costs so much for 

 plowing an acre, so much for cultivating, etc., making these estimates by the 

 acre. I have been surprised to see how nearly these estimates will compare 

 with actual cost of the year' s operations as shown by inventory. 



I have thus briefly denned my position; perhaps too briefly. Yet I hope you 

 understand what I mean by "book-keeping on the farm," or systematic farming. 

 There is a branch of farming in specialties, (all right for those of a speculative 

 turn, who want to go faster than by the common slow farmer's wagon,) with 

 which I am not dealing. Dairying in northern Illinois is not a specialty, but 

 a regular appointment of the farm. 



What of the conclusion? 



I said in the beginning " this is a fast age." Speed may be a good thing. It 

 is a good thing to get rich; it may, or it may not be a good thing to get rich 

 quickly. When our great haste defeats the very ends in view, then there is 

 something wrong. We hear it said often, "There is Old Poke getting rich, new 

 house and barn, fine carriage, and money in the bank, yet he never reads any- 

 thing but the almanac, and can scarcely write his name, while Young Enter- 

 prise has his farm all plastered over with mortgages." 



To give another figure. We start out with our Maud S. at a rapid rate; 

 double our track and come back to try another road; go cross-lots to a third, 

 break the rigging, etc. ; neighbor starts with Old Slow-and-go-easy-tail-f ull-of- 

 burrs, and beats us two to one. It may be satisfying to go fast while going, but 

 if we come up at our starting place like the fast horses at our agricultural — 

 cul-tur-al — fairs, what has been gained? 



The enterprising farmer goes to a sale and buys things he does not need — 

 makes a sale and sells things he needs; runs in debt for more land when what he 

 has is not half tilled; spreads himself on all large things and neglects the small 

 items. Thus neglecting Poor Richard's advice to mind the pennies, as the 

 pounds would take care of themselves. Now, enterprise is a good thing, but 

 should lead us in the right direction. Speed is a good thing, but let us 

 temper it with moderation. In other words, let us go fast slow; education and 

 learning are good things, but let them be perverted — directed in the wrong 

 course — and they become the opposite. 



Let the farmer's boy, while in school, neglect his comic sections to study 

 book-keeping; let him neglect his Greek to apply this book-keeping by keeping 

 and studying the accounts of the farm, and he will have something useful as 

 well as ornamental, when education becomes practical, instead of all theoretical; 

 then, while the uneducated man may succeed, the scientific man will be sure to 

 triumph. 



All will remember that charming story so often repeated in our younger 

 days, where ox began to drink water, water began to quench fire, fire began to 

 burn stick, stick began to beat kid, kid began to go. Now, if any farmer begins 

 to systemize his farming, keep his accounts, drain his fields, rotate his crops, 

 and his bank account begins to grow, I shall be satisfied. 



DISCUSSION. 



Mr. Avery : How much experimenting is allowed to be prosecuted at the 

 State farm? 



