FARMING IN NEW ENGLAND. 83 



exhausted, or nearly so, and the present productive capacity 

 of the soil cannot greatly exceed what is due to the plant- 

 food annually returned to it, the amount of which cannot be 

 indetinitely increased. Doubtless, the earth's waste, could it 

 all be made available, would maintain the earth's fertility. 



But this waste is not, nor is it likely to be, at present, 

 generally utilized. Portions of it, from sanitary consider- 

 ations, are l)uried so deeply in the earth as to become useless ; 

 other portions are carried by the winds to regions sterile and 

 unproductive ; while much the larger part is swallowed up by 

 the ocean, to be deposited w^here it will be beyond the reach 

 of vegetation, at least, until after some new and gigautic up-' 

 heaval of the earth's crust. There are those, it is true, who 

 profess to be able to supply, in unlimited quantities, any of 

 the elements of phint-food, but they have not yet been able 

 to secure from the public full confidence in their professions. 



But, probably, the chief objection to the free investment 

 of capital in the permanent improvement of farms is, that its 

 owner virtually loses control of it. It may, for the time 

 being, return a large profit, but this will l)e rather in the na- 

 ture of a purchased, but uncertain, annuity, the present worth- 

 of which bears no fixed relation to the capital originally in- 

 vested or to the income derived from it. The sinking of cap- 

 ital in annuities is not in accordance with the genius of our 

 institutions, especially where there can be no insurance 

 aofainst an occasional failure of income throuo-h untoward 

 influences. 



If it is asserted that capital invested in the improvement 

 and high cultivation of a farm can, at any time, I)y the sale ' 

 of the farm be reconverted to cash without loss, the assertion 

 must stand for what it is worth. It certainly is not a prop- • 

 osition so self-evident or so w^ell established as to receive the 

 assent of capitalists. 



One other principal, and a common one, through the oper- ' 

 ation of which wealth is accpiired, is that of hazardous specula- ■ 

 tion upon credit, or reckless ventures with other men's mon- 

 ey, W'hich, if successful, will make only the operator rich ; • 

 if unsuccessful, will make only other men poor. Whether » 

 this method of acquiring wealth is reputable or otherwise • 

 (and that there is any doubt on this point indicates a low-* 



