PROGRESSIVE AGRICULTURE, 155 



acre, and at an average value of |6 or $8 per ton, by proper 

 draining and reclaiming, may be made to yield an average of a ton 

 and a half or two tons of the most nutritious grasses. This fact 

 is established by numerous cases open to the observation of all ; 

 and the principles upon which reclamation is made, are so plain, 

 that all ought to be familiar with them. They equally apply to 

 plowing, to the use and application of manures, to the mechanical 

 changes often necessary to be efiected in soils, and to seeding and 

 harvesting. 



The subject of Capital, also, in agricultural industry, may properly 

 be considered in this connection. Errors prevail among farmers, 

 and are constantly indulged, in this sinew of agriculture, as well as 

 of war. The shrewd and successful merchant rarely diverts his 

 capital from his legitimate pursuits. If his transactions leave a 

 surplus or profit, that profit is usually added to the original invest- 

 ment. He thus enlarges and strengthens his business, and creates 

 a new power to control the markets and circumstances about him. 

 Year by year his profits swell, because his operations are governed 

 — not only by vigilance and economy — but in accordance with the 

 laws of trade. 



Such should be the policy and practice of the farmer. The 

 profits realized from the crops of this year should be invested in 

 permanent improvements in the soil he cultivates, or in the erection 

 of such buildings or changes as will facilitate his efforts. One 

 hundred dollars, expended in labor and manures upon five acres of 

 land, will often increase the products per acre from one ton of hay 

 worth six dollars, to two tons, each worth twelve dollars. Here, 

 then, for the use of the twenty dollars expended, would be a gain 

 of eighteen dollars per acre, and for the use of the one hundred 

 dollars on the five acres a profit of ninety dollars ! This result 

 might not always be obtained the first year — though it often is — 

 but the interest on the sum invested, after all allowances, would 

 not fall short of fifteen or twenty per cent, per annum, with the 

 satisfaction that the principal is invested in a bank which will 

 never refuse a discount, is not subject to revulsion or to stop pay- 

 ment ! These facts are amply demonstrated every year in many 

 parts of our State. Plain and obvious as they are, however, they 

 have not yet induced hundreds to invest their capital on their 

 homesteads, and unembarrassed by rents, clerkships and bonuses 

 to the State. 



A desire exists among farmers to become owners of stocks in 



