xiv PREFACE 



the College of Agriculture of the University of 

 part of which follows : 



"Agriculture has passed through two definite stages of 

 development and is now entering upon a third. 



"The first stage was called the self-sufficing system. 

 Each family produced enough to keep itself until the next 

 harvest. 



"The second stage was called the money-making stage. 

 It arose about the time of the Civil War, when some states 

 became wealthy from the production of wheat. The West- 

 ern States created wealthy farmers who bought land for 

 $1 or $2 an acre, and robbed the soil of its elements to 

 make money. This land is worth now from $100 to > 

 per acre. This exhaustive money-making period caused 

 the rise of the third period. 



"The third stage is called the scientific stage. It i> 

 scientific as to the feeding of animals, fertilizing (replen- 

 ishing) the soil, dairying, sanitation, marketing, manage- 

 ment, organization. Chemistry was the first science to 

 come to the aid of agriculture ; economics is the latest. 



"Now, however, when the public domain is practically 

 exhausted, competition for land will raise its price, food 

 values must go up, for the farmer must realize income on 

 his capital as well as on labor, and his business is gradu- 

 ally assuming the form of other capitalized industries." 



A feature of farm accounting that is often overlooked 

 is that of dealing with the investment of money after it is 

 earned. A discussion is given herein, of the ways of in- 

 vesting in safe but profitable income-producing assets. 

 This is considered as being of essential economic impor- 



