ANNUAL EXHIBITION—ADDRESSES. 
133 
sumer has to pay a larger price for every article as a profit to 
the middle man. The whole system of marketing, in many 
sections of the countr}^, needs to be changed, and only a radi¬ 
cal change can effect the object. And a radical change would 
involve a reduction of the cost of transportation, so as to enable 
3 "ou to reach the eastern or the foreign market, to the lowest 
possible point. But the farmer who adopts some specialty^ 
who raises onlj^ one or two leading market crops, is in the po¬ 
sition to study and take advantage of the market, and it be¬ 
comes his interest to do so. 
Now the lesson which the many illustrations he had given 
ought to teach us is that good farming requires the concentra¬ 
tion of labor rather than its diffusion. It applies mind and 
thought and does not rely on hard work alone. It contrives 
new methods. It is ready to avail itself of every aid from 
whatever source, whether it be from the investigations of 
science or the skilful hand of the mechanic. 
If there is one branch of human knowledge more than 
another to which our agriculture is indebted for its progress, 
it is that of mechanics. By the application of mechanical 
ingenuity the labor of the farm has been lightened, while at 
the same time its efficiency has been increased and the power 
to meet the demands of a growing population multiplied. 
There was a time in the early history of this country 
when labor was cheap, when strong limbs and the power of 
endurance were the requisites chiefly sought for in the man 
on the farm, and when his labor was paid for as so much brute 
physical force. Thought and skill found higher rewards in 
other callings and the practical farmer was thought to be suf¬ 
ficiently well informed if he was able to hold a plow, to mow, 
to sow and to reap. 
When labor or the physical force necessary to carry on the 
operations of the farm could be obtained so easily, a limited 
variety of implements was enough to satisfy the necessities of 
the times, while the isolated position of the farmer and his 
limited opportunities for travel and observation among people 
engaged in the same pursuits was well calculated to 
