77 



cost of transportation ; tbe difference between a certain and nncertaia, 

 and a constant and intermittent, cash-market ; comparative uniformity 

 or great fluctuations in prices ; comparative risks in producing differ- 

 ent crops ; tbe relative per cent, of profit in tbe expense of producing 5 

 tbe relative advantages of producing market-crops with wbicb to pur- 

 chase supplies and fertilizers, or producing them on tbe farm, thus 

 avoiding transportatiou both ways ; tbe time intervening between the 

 outlay and tbe return ; tbe comparative advantages between culti- 

 vating crops to be sold off" the farm and crops to be utilized and. con- 

 centrated in value on it ; the relative profits of systems whicb furnish 

 profitable employment for labor and work-animals longer and shorter 

 portions of the year ; and, above all, the anticipated result, after a series 

 of years, on the productiveness of the farm itself, tbe farmer's invested 

 capital — these are some of tbe more prominent considerations which the 

 intelligent farmer takes into account in deciding what branch of farm- 

 ing will be most profitable for him ; and tbe following extracts will 

 afford many illustrations of the fact that, in all sections of the country 

 abke, as a rule, the degree of permanent success or continued failure of 

 success is in i^roportiou to tbe degree in which they are regarded or 

 overlooked. 



These extracts also furnish several striking illustrations of the great 

 advantages resulting to a farming community by tbe establishment, 

 either by their own or other agency, of mechanical or manufactur- 

 ing industries. In Columbia, N. Y., mills for the manufacture of 

 straw-paper make rye one of tbe most profitable crops raised. In 

 Butler, Pa., in consequence of recent developments of oil production, 

 "towns and improvements have sprung up as if by magic, scattering 

 millions of dollars among land-owners," and causing "an unprecedented 

 demand, at high prices, for every article the farm can produce for man 

 or beast." In Mercer, also, iron manufactories and oil production 

 "make a cash demand for cattle, cheese, and butter;" and in Luzerne, 

 in consequence of mining operations, farm products of every kind find 

 a ready market at good prices." 



COTTON. 



Tbe purport of tbe returns from the cotton States is this : Nothing 

 pays but cotton, and cotton does not pay. Every season of large pro- 

 duction and consequent decline of prices wakes the echoes of the old 

 wail of ruin. Like all statements of individual views of comparative 

 profit in any branch of industry, these are various and apparently con- 

 tradictory, tbe difference in part consisting in widely different rates of 

 yield and cost of culture, and in part in the varying judgment of the 

 observers and their differing views as to what profit may be deemed 

 remunerative. Supposing these differences harmonized, there is another 

 important element of error which the majority of our correspondents 

 have apparently not considered. They simply deduct expenditures from 

 receipts, without inquiring whether they have enriched, or depleted tbe 

 soil. Many report gratifjiug success from the first or second annual 

 application of commercial fertilizers ; many others, in giving tbe history 

 of further applications, say that they fail to yield tbe former return. 

 When such results follow, the first success was only apparent, not real. 



Another detect in reasoning is very apparent. Many appear to de- 

 duce, from a clear showing that an acre of cotton yields a larger net 

 return than an acre of corn, or that -$100 expended in tbe culture of 

 cotton produces muie money than a similar sum used in tbe production 



