INTRODUCTION. 17 



other, while it will not entirely neglect these great pro- 

 ducts, will aim to produce crops which can not be kept 

 from year to year, or ordinarily be transported long 

 distances. 



The one system of farming will be carried on with lit- 

 tle labor, and little or no manure. And what manure is 

 used will be for the purpose of enabling the plant to ab- 

 stract as much food as possible from the soil. In other 

 words, our wheat growers may use superphosphate, be.- 

 cause the application of phosphoric acid may enable the 

 wheat plant to get a larger quantity of potash, nitrogen, 

 and other constituents of plant food from the soil, and 

 thus to produce larger crops. This is the very reverse of 

 high farming, though it is often very profitable farming. 

 The other system of farming is the one which I want our 

 young men to adopt. The change will be gradual, but 

 it will surely come. It will be adopted in England, and 

 also here. It is absurd to suppose that the soil of Eng- 

 land, or of the New England or Middle States, can not 

 be profitably cultivated, owing to the low prices at which 

 the cheap land of the West and Northwest, aided by 

 cheap transportation, can furnish our people, and the 

 people of New England, with bread. Let the bread 

 come, and let us provide good Jersey butter to eat with 

 it. The world as a world spends all it can get, and the 

 less it spends for bread the more it can pay for butter 

 and bonnets, and the bonnet-makers will buy our fruit 

 and vegetables. 



COMPETITION IN CROPS. 



One thing is certain, we can never get high average 

 prices for wheat, or for any other product which can be 

 grown in all parts of the world, and which will keep 

 from year to year. The farmers of America will never 

 realize extravagant profits from any crop, the value of 

 which is determined by the price it will bring in Eng- 



