148 FIVE ACRES TOO MUCH. 



N 



CHAPTEE X. 



PEOFIT AND LOSS. 



OW that we have finished our first year s expe 

 rience, and shown how readily a person can 

 pass from the profession of a lawyer to that of an 

 agriculturist, we come to the subject which, after all, 

 is the great question of both city and country life, 

 and which we have always kept so steadily in view 

 the question of profit and loss. The reader must bear 

 in mind that I had great difficulties to contend with ; 

 no one had kindly set out fruit-trees for me, nor start 

 ed my asparagus and strawberry beds, nor even laid 

 out my garden. Moreover, the weather had been ex 

 ceptionally hot and dry for it does usually rain occa 

 sionally during the summer, in our climate, and sev 

 eral accidents had happened that can hardly be ex 

 pected to take place invariably. The profit, there 

 fore, must be looked for, not in the merely vulgar, 

 material sense, but somewhat in the sensations, 

 thoughts, and experiences that were included in the 

 results of the year s labor. To be sure, there was an 



