82 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTUEE. 



The operation of one of those principles is seen in the reten- 

 tion and conversion by one individual or corporation of a por- 

 tion, more or less considerable, of the earnings of each one of 

 a large number of employes or operatives, as is too often prac- 

 ticed in certain manufacturiug industries. This principle, 

 although formerly a controlliug one in the plantation system 

 in the Southern States, never was, never ought to be, and, it 

 is earnestly to be hoped, never will be, applied to agricultural 

 operations in New England. 



Another of these principles is that of the repeated turniug 

 of capital, in some form of stock in trade, even at a compar- 

 atively small percentage of profit on each transaction. The 

 farmer cannot take advantage of this principle, the frequent 

 turning of his capital being impossible. He may invest a 

 thousand dollars in a crop of corn, and realize a profit of 

 twenty per cent., or even more, on his investment. But the 

 operation cannot be repeated until another year. His neigh- 

 bor, who invests a thousand dollars in Western corn and turns 

 it every week at a profit of five per cent. , will be some twelve 

 hundred per cent, ahead of him at the end of the year, which 

 is not an encouraging result to one who only desires to be- 

 come rich, or, at least, as rich as his neighbor. 



A third principle is that of employing a large capital in 

 enterprises reqniriug considerable time for their consum- 

 mation, ])nt which return at the end a very consideral)le mar- 

 gin of profit, as in certain commercial transactions with for- 

 eign countries. But there are limits to the amount of capital 

 which coidd be employed by New England farmers, even if 

 the capital were at their disposal. The frequent subdivision of 

 property, under our statutes, renders it difficult to acquire, and 

 still more difficult to perpetuate, a large landed estate, which 

 seems to l)e a necessary preliminary to any extensive outlay 

 for permanent improvements. It would be nearl}^ or quite, 

 impossible to procure fertilizers containing all the elements 

 necessary to replace in the soil the loss consequent on the 

 repeated croppiugs which must result from the application to 

 farming of the high-pressure system on which otlier money- 

 making operations are conducted. It is useless in farming to 

 expect something from nothing. The original accumulations 

 of fertilizing elements, never very a])undant here, were long ago 



