THE NEW AGRICULTURE. 57 



devise ways by which every acre that we now cultivate will be 

 made to produce two or three times as much as we get from it 

 now. That will be our new agriculture. Perhaps this system dis- 

 covered by Mr. Cole is the first step toward the general improve- 

 ment. 



" G. S. McCann. If we can adopt any plan that will increase 

 crops to two or three times present yield we can afford considera- 

 ble expense to effect the improvement. It is not so much a matter 

 of cost in the outset as returns afterwards. 



" W. A. Armstrong. That is the right way to view the new sys- 

 tem. First, ascertain by actual inspection of the grounds treated 

 by Mr. Cole two or three years ago what improvement is effected, 

 what advantage is already seen; in fact, get full information from, 

 every available source. Now suppose his estimate of cost be taken 

 at $200 or $250 to the acre. Manifestly it will not be within the 

 range of possibilities for farmers generally to improve fifty or a 

 hundred acres in a single season at such great cost. But take 

 another view, premising of course that benefits received will repay 

 the outlay. Take one acre and treat it by this system. Suppose 

 its profits in annual crops are one-fifth of the cost required to pro- 

 vide irrigation. Why plainly in five years the profit will provide 

 funds for treating another acre. Then there will be two acres to 

 yield profits, and accumulation of gain would, in a few years, pro- 

 vide for treating an extensive field. Sometimes it is advantageous 

 for farmers to lay out a good deal of money in improvements, even 

 when the money must be borrowed. As for instance suppose a 

 field never does more than return cost of labor expended on it. 

 The land may have cost a hundred dollars an acre, but if it will 

 produce nothing more than fair compensation for labor employed 

 on it, the value is nothing, because the labor can be sold for the 

 money without waiting for crops to grow, or it might be employed 



