306 



Mor^ fruits of Imlnsir]}. 



Vol. II. 



would more easily nett .*s^l,200 per annum ; 

 that is, the profits of the capital laid out in 

 land produced an interest of 5 per cent, per 

 annum, and the capital laid out in manure 

 produced 20 per cent. 



The simple fact of the vast difference be- 

 tween the profits of capital expended in land, 

 and in the improvements explains the diver- 

 sity of opinion that exists upon the profits of 

 agriculture, and a knowledge of this fact is 

 in my opinion of incalculable advantage to 

 the community. If the above hasty sketch 

 should elicit the spirit of inquiry, and put into 

 operation som.e practical experiments among 

 the readers of the Cabinet, it will amply 

 satisfy a Subscriber. 



A\ iliuiiifjton, 4mo, 23, IS33. 



For the F-iimers' Cabinet. 

 More fruits of Industry and lutclligcucc* 



\'e.rily. Industry hath its Reward. 



The cultivation of the soil, in our country> 

 is yet in its infancy, but it is growing into 

 manhood with a rapidity that is truly sur- 

 prismg, and the publication and extensive 

 circulation of well edited papers devoted to 

 agriculture, horticulture, and rural economy, 

 are producing an influence throughout tlie 

 community which, tends greatly to promote 

 the best and most durable interests of this re- 

 public. The effort to ascertain the greatest 

 possible productive powers of the soil, can 

 yet scarcely be said to have been made; still 

 tliere have been some approximations to it in 

 the neighborhoods of some of our large cities, 

 where manure can easily be obtained and the 

 productions of the soil are readily disposed of 

 at fair prices. A very worthy and industrious 

 individual, who resides withm a tl^w miles of 

 Philadelphia, and whostill carries on hisbusi-j 

 nessof horticulturist and farmer with much' 

 zeal and energy, married upwards of forty' 

 years ago, and took on a lease for seven years 

 about thirty acres of heavy, flat, clayey land, 

 with the necessary buildings. The soil was 

 tliin, and his capital consisted principally in the 

 joint industry of himself and hiscompanion; she 

 was much discouraged at their prospects on 

 settling on their new location, but they were 

 both of the short-backed, industrious, econo- 

 mical stock, of German origin, and set to 

 with cheerfulness and vigor; their neighbors 

 were of the same class in life, and generally 

 tenants of from 20 to 40 acres under city land- 

 lords. Their plau was to raise as many vege- 

 tables and as much fruit as they could dispose' 

 of advantageously in the market, and appro- 

 priate the remainder of the land to the culti- 

 vation of the various kinds of grain and grass 

 to supply their domestic wants, and if there 

 was any overplus, to dispose of it i,n. t,he mar- 

 ket to add to the general fuud^ 



After proceeding on for some time in this 

 way, he ascertained, that by great industry, 

 economy, and close attention to business, he, 

 in common with his thrifty neighbors, could, 

 each, after paying the rent, save about two 

 hundred dollars per annum. His neighbors, 

 being of the penny-saving class of society, put 

 their monies out at interest, at six per cent, 

 per annum; but my friend George, who was a 

 little more penetrating into what he thought 

 would promote his best interests, informed 

 the writer of this, that he bought manure 

 with his money, and it produced him sixty 

 per cent. In tliis way he proceeded till his 

 lease terminated, when he purchased the 

 place and became a landed proprietor. He 

 still prosecuted his business with energy, an- 

 nually improving the soil by the copious 

 ai)plicatioii of additional doses of manure, 

 principally purcliased and hauled from the 

 city; and still his annual receipts continued 

 to grow, as he encouraged the soil to grow 

 more and more produce, by continually sup- 

 plying it with plenty of nutriment of a suita- 

 ble kind. As his means increased, his family 

 increased, for his wife was a fruitful vine in 

 every sense of the word. They had ten chil- 

 dren, whom they brought up and educated 

 well, and tliose of them witli wliom I am ac- 

 quainted, do honor to their parents, being real 

 chips of the old block, finely exhibiting the 

 great advantages of a good rearing in habits 

 of industry and economy, which might truly 

 be envied by many of our respectable citizens, 

 whose sons and daughters liave been taught 

 in a very different school. A number of tho 

 adjacent little farms were from time to time 

 purchased by my friend, (a small portion of 

 whose history 1 am writing out for you, with- 

 out his knowledge or consent, though the ma- 

 terials I obtained from himself, at different 

 times,) all of which were duly paid for, and 

 he is now the owner of a large tract of land, 

 though it is subdivided into small farms or 

 vegetable lots. Several years ago, he re- 

 moved to an adjacent farm, and put one of his 

 sons on his first purchase of thirty acres, un- 

 der a contract that he should first pay for all 

 the hired labor, and manure bought for the 

 farm, out of the gross receipts for the produce, 

 and then divide the balance into two equal 

 parts and pay over to his father one half, and 

 keep the other moiety himself; and the amount 

 thus paid over annually, has been, for many 

 years past, thirteen hundred dollars; of course 

 the nett proceeds of these thirty acres annu- 

 ally is twenty-six hundred dollars, af\er sup- 

 porting the family of the son in eatables and. 

 paying for the hired help and the manure ap- 

 plied to the land. This statement may appear 

 to some as too extraordinary to be true, but 

 there is no fiction or exaggeration about the 

 concern whatever, and in fact the half has 



