ELEMENTS OF SUCCESS IN FARMING. 11 



In this connection, I may speak of economy, which is never 

 aUied to parsimony. Tlie two are .antipodes with each other, 

 as well in practical operations as in lexicographical definition. 

 The one means a judicious use of money expended to advan- 

 tage without waste. The other a wasteful hoarding by saving 

 necessary expense. Economy would stop the leaks in the roof 

 before the rains had damaged the plastering of the walls. 

 Parsimony would wait until the crumbling of the plastering 

 required the services of the mason as well as of the carpenter 

 to return the house to a habitable condition. 



Liberal and judicious expenditure in promoting any business 

 is generally the greatest economy that can be practiced, and 

 this holds good with the farmer as well as with the mechanic, 

 the manufacturer and the merchant. A man who pursues a 

 niggardly and parsimonious system with his farm, has no reason 

 to expect tliat his farm will yield to him bountifully of its pro- 

 ducts. It won't do to starve it, and then expect it to do the 

 work of one that is strong and well fed. It is no use to expect 

 a farm to thrive on mere husks ; the storm-beaten and sun- 

 dried excretions of cattle thrown out of a hole in the side of the 

 barn, exposed to the alternate drenching of rain and scorchijig 

 of the sun, will not satisfy the natural cravings of the soil ; and 

 however strong may be the constitution of your land, you will 

 find it in the end getting low and weak on that kind of diet. 

 It will then require strong stimulants to keep it at work up 

 even to a moderate production. It is pretty poor economy 

 that will stint good land until it becomes so weak that it can 

 hardly hold up a ton of hay to the acre ; yet in Massachusetts 

 the strength of the land has been reduced by this kind of man- 

 agement so that the average yield of hay is less than a ton per 

 acre. This kind of farming is not the kind that pays large 

 wages to the laborer or a high rate of interest to the capital 

 invested. Economy requires that your lands be kept in good 

 heart, improving in quality year by year. To do this, if you 

 sell hay, you must purchase manures ; if your land is wet, you 

 must not be afraid of the expense of labor and material to drain 

 it; if it is cold, you must warm it with stimulants. All this 

 takes money, and money thus expended, even in large amounts, 

 is good economy, and in the end the investments will pay large 

 dividends. 



