AND WHERE TO FIND ONE. 115 



a half of grass are commonly cut, four tons have been 

 produced simply by heavy seeding and plastering; where 

 thirty bushels of corn have been the common crop, seventy 

 bushels have resulted from well applied manure, selected 

 seed, and good cultivation ; and where only two hundred 

 bushels of carrots or rutabagas were ordinarily yielded, 

 six to eight hundred have been obtained by performing 

 every part of the operation promptly, in the best manner, 

 and on a deep and rich soil. We have known a gain of 

 more than one hundred dollars a year on a single farm from 

 a selection of the most efficient tools, and proper labor- 

 saving machines. We could also name some farmers, who, 

 instead of reaping an average net profit of only two per 

 cent., make at least twenty per cent.; and some of the 

 best farmers of Western New York (and doubtless else 

 where) clear from $700 to $900 from every hundred acres 

 and in one case about S6000 have been made in a single sea 

 son from a five-hundred-acre farm. The owners and managers 

 of these farms were active, intelligent, and energetic men, 

 of long experience, always in the midst of every important 

 operation, and we need scarcely add, constant readers of 

 the best agricultural publications of the day.&quot; 



Such are the opinions of one who has long been 

 regarded as an agricultural authority. They are 

 cautiously expressed, but are not discouraging. 

 They strengthen the position taken throughout these 

 pages, that it is not the mere land which makes the 

 cultivator independent, but the skill and industry 

 with which he handles it. They may be said to lie 

 at the foundation of all intelligent, well-directed 

 labor. An animal will grow if generously fed; if 

 not, he must remain nearly stationary. If not fed 

 at all, he will assuredly die of starvation. It is pre- 



