No. 6. 



Agricultural Capital. — Boiling Food. 



171 



are observable : First, That the resistance or 

 draught of the plougrhs bears no relation to 

 the absolute weijiht, for in the lea-ploughinof, 

 No. 3 is two pounds lijjhtar in absolute weight 

 than No. 4, but it is 7A stones heavier in 

 draught. And again, although the same No. 

 3 is 37 pounds lighter in absolute weight than 

 No. 2, it is three stones heavier in draught ; 

 hence it is inferred, that no advantage towards 

 lightening- horse-labour will follow any reduc- 

 tion in absolute weight of a plough, unless 

 that reduction is combined with other pro- 

 perties in the construction of the plough. 



2d. Comparing the results of any given 

 plough in lea and stubble land, the discre- 

 pancies are striking. Take No. 4 again : its 

 draught in stubble-land is nearly two-thirds 

 only of that in lea, while the draught of No. 

 5 in stubble-land is little more than one-half 

 of its draught in lea; and upon the whole, 

 although the discrepancies are great in the 

 lea-ploughing, there is a great assimilation 

 in the stubble, No. 4 having greatly the ad- 

 vantage in the lea, but being approached in 

 the etubble-land within half a stone by one 

 of the heaviest draughts in the field in the 

 lea-ploughing. These are interesting facts, 

 and seem to point out that certain ploughs 

 may be well adapted for ploughing stubble or 

 light land, while they are indifferently so for 

 lea-ploughing. And it was remarked by the 

 judges, that No. 4 did not lay the lea-furrow 

 well down — it was not sitjficiently turned 

 over, or pressed home to the last slice ; hence 

 very probably arose its lightness of draught 

 in that kind of land* 



: 3d. The remarkable, although by no means 

 I unlooked-for result was ascertained, namely, 

 that the wheel ploughs wore actually lighter 

 in draught when deprived of their wheels than 

 tcith them in the stubble-land, although the 

 difference was not perceptible in the lea." 



* There is a volume contained in this sen- 

 tence. What, then, shall be said for a plough 

 that turns its furrow perfectly flat — com- 

 pletely over — and yet requiring less draught 

 than others which only turn it partially over, 

 as is peculiarly the case in the use of Prouty's 

 iplough] J. M. 



Iji -— 



'i Agricultural Capital. 



What, in the hands of the farmer, coneti- 

 tutes capital ■? is an important query. With 

 the merchant, cash is the capital ; with the 

 land-owner, land is the capital ; and with the 

 farmer, cash, land, and stock, is usually con- 

 sidered the capital. But there are many 

 other items that enter into the capital of the 

 farmer, generally overlooked, such as imple- 

 ments, manures, and the most important of 

 ill, labour. Capital may be productive or 

 Mn-productive. A million of gold and silver 

 locked in a strong box, or a thousand acres 



of uncultivated land, may be capital ; but so 

 long as the property remains in this state it 

 produces nothing, and the owner may be ac- 

 tually growing poorer, instead of becoming 

 richer. Increase of wealth does not depend 

 on the quantity of capital, so much as in the 

 use made of it; and in nothing is this more 

 observable than in farming. There is many 

 a man who has commenced his career as a 

 farmer with fifty acres of land ; on this, he 

 annually expended in manure, labour, &c., 

 twenty per cent., and the produce was per- 

 haps forty per cent. Encouraged by this 

 success, he added another fifty acres, but his 

 expenditure in capital is not proportionally 

 increased, and the prof Is are lessened in pro- 

 portion. Still he has not land enough ; and 

 he keeps purchasing land, while he adds little 

 or nothing to his active capital; and the con- 

 sequence is, while on fifty acres of land he 

 realized forty per cent., on five hundred acres 

 he realizes nothing. He has converted his 

 productive into unproductive capital; and 

 from his five hundred acres he does not clear 

 as much as he did from fifty acres, or perhaps 

 he actually falls behind. There is nothing 

 more true, than that the inordinate desire for 

 large farms has been the ruin of thousands. 

 It is true that a large farm may be made as 

 productive as a small one, but there must be 

 the same proportion of capital in manure, 

 labour, &c., put upon it — a thing rarely or 

 never done. The part of the farm upon 

 which most capital is expended, is the gar- 

 den, and this is clearly the most productive 

 and profitable; and so with a small farm, 

 when compared with a large one. Let no 

 one, therefore, desire to possess more land, or 

 undertake the cultivation of more acres, than 

 he has capital to manage well. If he does, 

 he will find he is rapidly sinking what little 

 productive capital he possesses, and may be- 

 come a poor man, with the means of exhaust- 

 less wealth in his hands. — Anon. 



Boiling Food. 



In feeding live-stock, much corn might be 

 saved by boiling it before it is given to them. 

 Every farmer should have a large kettle for 

 this purpose. It has been ascertained that 

 one-third of the corn may be saved in this 

 way. Being cooked, it is more nourishing 

 and more easily digested. The trouble of 

 preparing it is very inconsiderable. It is 

 well known that the cob of corn contains a 

 great deal of nutriment. A bushel of corn 

 ground in the cob, will make one-third more 

 of whiskey, as has been ascertained by expe- 

 riment. To grind the cob and corn in a bark 

 mill, or something of the kind, before boiling, 

 would be an additional improvement and 

 saving. 



