THE SEARCH AND FINDING 



thick with his fancies, in the shape of orchard 

 houses, or dwarf pear trees, or glazed grap- 

 eries, offer no solution. All this is, in most 

 instances, only the expression of an individual- 

 ism of taste, entered upon with no thought of 

 those economies which Xenophon has illus- 

 trated in his treatise, and worse than useless 

 as a guide to any one who would make a pro- 

 fession of agricultural pursuits. 



With fifty or a hundred acres, however, 

 steaming under the plough and with crops 

 opening successively into waving fields of 

 green — into feathery blossom, — into full ma- 

 turity; too large for waste; too considerable 

 for home consumption ; enough, in short, to be 

 brought to that last test of profit — a market, 

 and a price ; then the culture and its costs have 

 a plain story to tell. The basis will not be 

 wanting for an intelligent decision of the 

 question — whether a man is richer in the culti- 

 vation of a hundred acres, or of ten ; whether, 

 in short, farming is a mere gross employment, 

 remunerative, like other manual trades, to 

 those immediately concerned; or whether it is 

 a pursuit subject to the rules of an intelligent 

 direction, and will pay the cost of such direc- 

 tion, without everyday occupancy of the field. 



My advertisement named three hours' dis- 



