THE BOOMERS AND THE BOOMEES 23 



to the consumer at profits of from 300 to 3,000 per 

 cent. All along the line of battle are found the camp 

 followers who exploit human credulity and weakness 

 and hypnotize and rob. We are hardly happy without 

 our daily deception in some form or other. Those who 

 have the love of agriculture, however, should be par- 

 ticularly on their guard against all such seductive al- 

 lurements. I can assure you all that there is no quick 

 road to wealth along the agricultural line. What lit- 

 tle you may be able to earn will come from much labor 

 and much sweating, not to count the worry and the dis- 

 appointment. 



A man would hardly expect to gain a large living by 

 investing two or three thousand dollars. The average 

 income of an investment in this country is probably 

 not over five per cent, of the invested capital. One 

 thousand dollars, therefore, cannot be expected to earn 

 more than fifty dollars. If, however, you add to the 

 investment your own personal labor, the return should 

 be larger. The man who works in the field every work- 

 day for a year has close to two hundred and seventy- 

 five days of labor. That ought to be worth to him at 

 least two hundred and seventy-five dollars, and if he 

 has one thousand dollars invested in his farm he ought 

 to earn five per cent, on the investment and pay himself 

 almost three hundred dollars for his labor. In sober 

 consideration of the problem that is all that any one 

 may hope to have by investing one thousand dollars in 

 ordinary farm land. This income, too, means hard 

 work and careful attention. 



AN ORCHARD EXPERIENCE IN COLORADO. 



I am giving an experience in a Colorado orchard 

 mostly in the language of the college professor who left 



