CROPS AND PROFITS 



It is the irony of Martial in the concluding 

 line of his Faustine epigram; and with it, I 

 whip my chapter of figures to a close. 



MONEY-MAKING FARMERS 



Where are the men then, who have grubbed 

 out of the reluctant eastern soil, their 

 stocking-legs of specie, and their funds at 

 the bank? They are not wholly myths; there 

 are such. Find me a man, who, by aptitude at 

 bargaining (let us not call it jockeyism), cap 

 reduce the labor estimates in the foregoing ac- 

 counts by a third; and who, by a kindred 

 quality, can add to the amount of sales by a 

 third; who can, by dint of early rising and 

 perpetual presence, stretch the ten-hour system 

 into twelve or fourteen ; who, by a conquest of 

 all finer appetites, can reduce the home con- 

 sumption to a third of the figure named in my 

 estimates, and you have a type of one class. 

 A union of tremendous energy and shrewd- 

 ness ; keenly alive to the phases of the market ; 

 an ally of all the hucksters; sharp to pounce 

 upon some poor devil of an emigrant, before 

 he has learned the current rate of wages; 

 gifted with a quick sense for all offal, which 



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