ESTIMATING VALUES OF LAND. 221 



necessary to moderate the ill-founded expectations which many 

 entertain, as to excite the too feeble hopes of others.* 



The great improvement of land and its products, to be caused by 

 marling, and its long duration, if not absolute permanency, have 

 been established, I trust, beyond question, by the foregoing argu- 

 ment and proofs. Still, any degree of improvement may be paid 

 for too dearly ; and the propriety of the practice must depend on 

 the amount of its clear profits, ascertained by fair estimates of the 

 expenses incurred. 



With those who attempt any calculations of this kind, it is very 

 common to set out on the mistaken ground that the expense of 

 marling should bear some proportion to the selling price of the 

 land; and without in the least underrating the effects of marl, 

 they conclude that the improvement cannot justify an expense of 

 six dollars on an acre of land that would not previously sell for 

 four dollars. Such a conclusion would be correct if the land were 

 held as an article for sale, and intended to be disposed of as soon 

 as possible ; as the expense in that case might not be returned in 

 immediate profit, and certainly would not be added to the price of 

 the land by the purchaser, under present circumstances. But if 

 the land is held as a possession of any permanency, its previous 

 price, or its subsequent valuation, has no bearing whatever on the 

 amount which it may be profitable to expend for its improvement. 

 Land that sells at four dollars, is often too dear at as many cents, 

 because its product will not pay the expense of cultivation. But 

 if by laying out for the improvement ten dollars, or even one 

 hundred dollars to the acre, the average increased annual profit 

 would certainly and permanently be worth ten per cent, on that 

 cost of improvement, then the expenditure would be highly expe- 

 dient and profitable. We are so generally influenced by a rage for 

 extending our domain, that another farm is often bought, stocked, 

 and cultivated, when a liberal estimate of its expected products, 

 would not show an annual clear profit of three per cent. : and any 

 one would mortgage his estate to buy another thousand acres, that 

 was supposed fully capable of yielding ten per cent, on its price. 

 Yet the advantage would be precisely the same, if the principal 

 money was used to enrich the land already in possession (without 

 regard to its extent, or previous value), with equal assurance of its 

 yielding the same amount of profit. 



Nothing is more general, or has had a worse influence on the 

 state of agriculture, than the desire to extend our cultivation and 

 landed possessions. One of the consequences of this disposition 

 has been to give an artificial value to the poorest land, considered 



* This introductory paragraph was prepared for and first appeared in the 

 edition of 1832, to which time it was especially applicable. 

 19* 



