RECLAIMING LAND. 123 



sacred by cultivating and mowing for years, yield a har- 

 vest of perhaps only one, or one and a half, tons to the acre. 



There still is much land where trees can be planted to a 

 good profit, and I shall soon refer to methods and cost. 



But the question now arises, how are we to know that any 

 part of our land is yielding a poor income, or perhaps is 

 losing property. 



It is probably a generally recognized principle with the 

 farmers of Barre and vicinity to keep careful accounts with 

 their different fields or crops, and to measure or weigh at 

 the time of harvest ; but such, I am quite confident, is not 

 the majority rule among farmers, but I wish for their own 

 good it were so. 



A systematic management in any business or occupation 

 is the true and only way to know when we are reaping the 

 best results, and no people more than the farming com- 

 munity deserve success in their calling. 



I am no advocate of complicated accounts, but advise a 

 carefully kept diary of what the daily work has been, and 

 where it has been done, so that a balance sheet can be made 

 from it, in order that it may be known what is worth doing 

 and what is not. 



This subject is an old one, but it is none the less one that 

 will bear repetition in order that more persons may fall into 

 line and benefit by its adoption. 



It is in the hope that land which is being tilled at a loss 

 may either be devoted to some other plan of treatment, or 

 be so cultivated in the future that it shall yield at least a 

 fair return to its owner, that I would urge the importance 

 of keeping accounts in some simple form proportionate to 

 the extent of farming done. 



Knowledge, as to general adaptability in connection with 

 farming, is largely needed to aid and benefit the practical 

 part of farming. To know how to best induce the fertility 

 of the soil to change its character and find its way into the 

 bank or pocket in the largest possible tjuantity, via crops 

 or animals, yielding to the occupants of the farm a com- 

 fortable and happy living, than which no other offers greater 

 possibilities for health and contentment, is the key to suc- 

 cessful farming. 



