UNDEVELOPED SOURCES OF POWEK. 281 



trol o^Nature's free gifts of power is very far inferior 

 to that of nearly every other class of producers. 



I have been having much plowing done this Fall 

 in my orchards, for what I presume to be the good of 

 the trees ; on my drained swamp, because it is not 

 yet fully subdued and sweetened, and I judge that 

 the Winter's freezing and thawing will aid to bring 

 it into condition. And then my swamp lies so low 

 and absolutely flat that the thaws and rains of 

 Spring render plowing it in season for Oats, or any 

 other crop that requires early seeding, a matter of 

 doubt and difficulty. All the land I now cultivate, 

 or seek to cultivate, has already been well plowed 

 more than once ; no stump or stone impedes pro- 

 gress in the tracts I have plowed this Fall; yet a 

 good plow, drawn by two strong yoke of oxen, rarely 

 breaks up half an acre per day ; and I estimate two 

 acres per week about what has been averaged, at a 

 cost of $18 for the plowman and driver ; offsetting 

 the oxen's labor against the work done by the men 

 at the barn and elsewhere apart from plowing. In 

 other words : I am confident that my plowing has 

 cost me, from first to last, at least, $10 per acre, and 

 would have cost still more if it had been done as 

 thoroughly as it ought. I am quite aware that this 

 is high that sandy soils and dry loams are plowed 

 much cheaper ; and that farmers who plow well (with 

 whom I do not rank those who scratch the earth to a 

 depth of four or five inches) do it at a much lower 

 rate. Still, I estimate the average cost in this country 



