174 HOW TO GET A FARM, 



&quot; Secondly. The rewards of labor and the facility for the 

 acquisition of capital are increased by the possession of 

 some peculiar knowledge or skill. A man s pecuniary value 

 may be said to augment in exact proportion to the amount 

 of his effective intelligence, superadded to ordinary phys 

 ical power. The demand for educated labor in progressive 

 countries so far exceeds the supply, that it may, to a cer 

 tain extent, dictate its rewards. Men, animals, and ma 

 chines, are everywhere working fruitlessly, or unprofitably, 

 for want of suitable persons to direct their movements ; 

 enterprises of the first magnitude languish for want of 

 competent managers ; and regions, where nature has been 

 most bounteous in her gifts, are yet comparatively a wilder 

 ness, because the arts and mechanism of civilization have 

 not been introduced. The soil of Uruguay, for instance, 

 would produce wheat and Indian corn abundantly and lux 

 uriantly ; but its adaptation for the growth of these cereals 

 is rendered comparatively worthless by the absence of suit 

 able mills to grind the products. The sugar-cane of the 

 Southern States, and especially in the Tropics, is wasted 

 immensely, for want of the proper machines and th e requi 

 site skill to extract all the sugar from the juice. There are 

 dies in the Indies rarer than the cochineal ; fibrous plants 

 more valuable than any flax or hemp; substances more 

 oleaginous than linseed ; but they are unappreciated, be 

 cause the educated mechanism has not as yet prepared them 

 for the world s markets. A quick brain and a ready hand 

 constitute a man Fortune s master. Even women, limited 

 as their opportunities are for gaining a livelihood, inde 

 pendently of being a helpmate to man, wonderfully enlarge 

 the scope of their powers when they combine administra 

 tive and manipulative skill. As managers of work-rooms, 

 superintendents, etc., women are especially in demand ; and, 

 if qualified, can readily earn from $6 to $12 per week 



