ACCOUNTS EN FARMING. 211 



against other crops for deterioration. He, for ex- 

 ample, whose meadows will cut from two to three 

 tuns per acre of good English Hay may generally sell 

 that Hay for twice if not thrice the immediate cost 

 of its production, and so seem to be realizing a large 

 profit ; but, if he gives nothing to the soil in return 

 for the heavy draft thus made upon it, his crop will 

 dwindle year by year, until it will hardly pay for 

 cutting ; and the diminution in value of his meadows 

 will nearly or quite balance the seeming profit accru- 

 ing from his Hay. But account-keeping in every 

 business involves essentially identical calculations; 

 and the merchant who this year makes no net profit 

 on his goods, but doubles the number of his custom- 

 ers and the extent of his trade, has thriven pre- 

 cisely as has the farmer whose profit on his crops has 

 all been invested in drains permeating his bogs, and 

 in Lime, Plaster, and other fertilizers, applied to and 

 permanently enriching his dryer fields. 



11 To make each day a critic on the last," was the 

 aspiration of a wise man, if not a great poet. So the 

 farmer who will keep careful and candid accounts 

 with himself, annually correcting his estimates by the 

 light of experience, will soon learn what crops he 

 may reasonably expect to grow at a profit, and to re- 

 ject such as are likely to involve him in loss ; and he 

 who, having done this, shall blend common sense 

 with industry, will have no reason to complain there- 

 after that there is no profit in farming, and no chance 

 of achieving wealth by pursuing it. 



