272 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



The cost of the seed of rye, $0 50 



" harvesting and threshing, . . . . 8 00 



$34 60 



Net profit on half an acre, .... 810 75 



Had the straw been closely cut, it would have added at least 

 $4 to the crop, ma,king the net profits equal $41.50 per acre. 

 As it was, the profit was $33.60 per acre. 



There are on our Island, thousands of acres of land, every 

 way as good as this, and which, with the same outlay of manure, 

 will produce as much, but which have been lying waste for 

 ages, and can now be bought for the small sum of from $2 to $10 

 per acre. In view of these facts, why need we repine that the 

 whales are growing scarce and more scarce every year ? When 

 has an outlay in any whaling voyage produced an equal per- 

 centage of profit with this half acre of rye ? What has been 

 done with this half acre, may be done with thousands of acres. 

 This has produced over 100 per cent, per annum, which would 

 be nearly equal to 400 per cent, for the time which it takes to 

 complete a whaling voyage. 



While I would be among the last to say a discouraging word 

 to those who prefer to follow the business which has made Nan- 

 tucket what it is, I would yet be among the first to say a word of 

 encouragement to every one, who, from want of success in other 

 business, or from any other cause, is disposed to become a 

 " practical farmer." And I would by all means endeavor to 

 show to those who have some capital, but not enough to live on 

 without labor, and who wish to invest in a farm, that it is not 

 necessary that they should, in the evening of their lives, tear 

 themselves from friends, relatives and homes, with all the dear- 

 est memories and associations of the earliest and best part of 

 their days, to find some new friends and new homes in some 

 distant country. I would show them that here, in their own 

 " Island Home," among their old friends and early associations, 

 they may reap a rich reward for their labor and their money. 



