438 SELECTIONS FROM ADDRESSES. 



heedless waste or careless economy is taking just so much su- 

 perfluous capital out of the power of the community. It is this 

 which makes the conducting of large allotments demanding 

 some variety of labor, regarded as so burdensome. Upon or- 

 dinary principles, the same method which, when applied to a 

 small tract, makes it yield a fair profit, would, if applied equally 

 to a larger, receive more than proportionate returns. This is 

 because the amount of capital invested in outfits by no means 

 increases in the ratio with the enlargement of the land, and the 

 labor can be applied more variously and more economically 

 where the crops to be raised are more diversified. But to make 

 the experiment come out according to expectation, the hand 

 and the eye of the master must be always ready to make the 

 utmost out of his resources. In Germany, for example, I find 

 it is the practice to measure and to classify the crops as they 

 are daily given out for food. So many pounds of each de- 

 scription are assigned for every head ; the manure which is pro- 

 duced, is measured and weighed in like manner, and a certain 

 amount, which is well understood, is assigned to each measured 

 acre of land, according to the nature of the crop intended to be 

 raised. Now if we turn for a moment to any of our agricul- 

 tural transactions, to examine the statements that ordinarily 

 accompany entries made for some of the premiums, we shall 

 readily perceive, from the labor spent upon making a tolerably 

 exact estimate on a very small scale, that it forms an exception 

 to the farmer's habits rather than the rule itself. This remark 

 is designed to apply to those who hold considerable quantities 

 of land, and not to the small holders. And if it be even par- 

 tially true, it may go some way to explain the declining con- 

 dition of many farms and the complaint which is so common 

 that the pursuit does not return even a decent living. 



I have pointed out two things in which we may improve. 

 First, the increasing the variety of our crops, both to benefit 

 the cattle that are to feed on them, and the land which is to 

 produce the feed. Secondly, the adoption of a more system- 

 atic and rigid accountability in all the details of production and 

 consumption. Let me now mention a third, which is an in- 

 creased attention as well to the kinds of stock kept, as also to 



