212 INDIAN COKN. 



eighty-five cents. In the second crop, by adding seven 

 dollars to the investment, the profit per acre rises to ten 

 dollars and seventy cents ; showing that while the first 

 twelve dollars earn twenty-three per cent., the next 

 seven dollars earn over one hundred per cent. In the 

 third crop, by adding eleven dollars more to the invest- 

 ment, the profit on the acre reaches thirty-nine dollars 

 and thirty cents ; and finally, by adding, in the fourth 

 crop, ten dollars more, the profit per acre rises to 

 fifty -nine dollars. 



It will also be observed, by referring to the eighth 

 column, that the rate of profit on the capital em- 

 ployed advances by a ratio no less rapid and remark- 

 able from twenty-three per cent, to one hundred and 

 forty-seven per cent. 



K"ow it is not claimed that the illustration here 

 presented has all the precision and certainty of a 

 mathematical demonstration. Yet it is believed to 

 be a fair statement of average results such as would 

 occur in the ordinary practice of farmers. In assuming 

 one hundred bushels as the yield of the fourth crop, the 

 amount is doubtless liable to exceptions. It would 

 not probably be reached in an adverse season, nor on 

 a poor soil, and least of all by a slovenly farmer who 

 is wiser than all the books and journals. But it is a 

 product often obtained at a less outlay than the 

 amount assumed, and it will scarcely fail to be equalled 

 or surpassed, when this amount of expense is rightly 

 applied. 



But there is another contingency that is liable 

 to affect some of the figures in the above table, and 



