COST AND PROFITS. 55 



A ring fence round the whole, of substantial boards and posts, 



cost, 240 



Contract price paid for breaking the whole, and putting in the 



seed, 260 



Paid for seed wheat, . . . . . . 160 



Contract for harvesting, thrashing, and delivering, . 500 



1,160 

 Price of the land, cash, viz., $10, or 2 an acre, . . 1,280 



2,440 



CR. 



Probable crop : 

 20 bushels an acre = 12,800 bushels, worth 75 cents, 



or 3s., .... . 1,920 



Value of the land after being enclosed and broken, 



viz., $12i, or 2 10s. an acre, . . 1,600 3,520 



Profit the first year, if the crop succeeds, . . 1,080 



These figures were given to me by a man of knowledge and 

 experience ; but the contract prices at present are lower than 

 usual, and the cost of fencing and breaking is thus below the 

 average cost of these operations. Neither is there any charge 

 for buildings, though that would not affect the balance, as the 

 property would be by that amount the more valuable. And it 

 must be remembered that the wheat crop sometimes fails, while 

 the above satisfactory result makes no allowance for failures. 



I here learned the history of one of the early and most suc- 

 cessful settlers in Illinois. He and his brother, then young 

 men of twenty and twenty-one, came to this State thirty-four 

 years ago, having left Ohio after an unsuccessful adventure in 

 cattle trading. They were in debt when they began business 

 in Illinois. They arrived in what was then a wilderness, and 

 pitched their tent on the spot where one of them now resides. 



