CROPS AND PROFITS 



get rid, if we can, of that interminable ques- 

 tion — does Farming pay? 



Will shop-keeping pay? Will tailoring or 

 Doctoring pay? Will life pay? How do these 

 questions sound? And yet they are as reason- 

 able as the one we come to consider. Tell me 

 of the capacity of the Doctor — of the tailor; 

 tell me of his location, and of his aptitude for 

 the business, and I can answer. Tell me of 

 what material you propose to make a farmer, 

 tell me of his habits, and of the condition of 

 his soil and markets, and I can tell you if he 

 will find a profit or not; and this, without re- 

 gard to Liebig, Short-horns, or the mineral 

 theory. 



Successful farming, it must be understood, 

 is not that which secures a large moneyed re- 

 sult this year, and the next year, and the year 

 after; but it is that which insures to the land 

 a constantly accumulating fertility, in connec- 

 tion with remunerative results. The theory 

 of the agricultural doctors, that every year, as 

 much of the nutritive elements of land should 

 be restored, as the annual cropping removes, 

 may be good ruling for virgin soil, or for the 

 Lothians, or Belgian gardens; but for neg- 

 lected or poor soil, a larger restoration is 

 needed; — if not by manures, then by tillage or 



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