430 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMKRICAN INSTITUTE. 



convinced me that fifty pounds of Improved Superphosphate of 

 Lime, mi^jed with fifty pounds of dried blood, formed 100 pounds 

 of a fertilizer, equal to 185 pounds of the best Peruvian guano 

 on earth, which could be sold at the price of $50 a ton, while 

 Peruvian guano cost $45. As Peruvian guano has since been 

 widely advertised and extensively used, it has increased in price, 

 while that of the phosphate has remained unchanged. 



When I went to my present residence in New Jersey, I com- 

 menced by hiring a small farm, with a right of purchase, and have 

 succeeded, as many of you know, in increasing that farm until it 

 is a large one, gained from the land itself, for I had not a dollar 

 of capital. When I realized my own success, and saw what could 

 be earned on a small farm, by under draining, sub-soil plowing, • 

 and the use of proper manure, I necessarily became a little fana- 

 tical, and therefore I may press these matters upon you to-day in 

 too strong language, perhaps, but my convictions are balanced by 

 my ledger. The clear profit of $6,000 last year, is the probable 

 minimum for the future, beyond all my expenses, deducting the 

 amount of taxes, rent, etc. In the March number of the Work- 

 ing Farmer, you will see the statement of last year. Now, under 

 these circumstances, I may be deemed excusable in wishing my 

 neighbors, some of whom do not make two per cent, on their 

 farms, to adopt the same course. 



I would urge, that notwithstanding the prejudice against what 

 is called hook knowledge, I would prefer a talented and industri- 

 ous clerk, as a pupil to instruct in scientific agriculture, to an 

 eld style, prejudiced farmer, filled with stupid dogmas, to be un- 

 learned before he could be the recipient of ascertained truths. 



An intelligent and energetic young man, whatever may have been 

 his calling, surrounded by the necessary amount of incentives, such 

 as the support of a family, may be placed on a farm after six months 

 judicious reading and one season's observation of the operations 

 of others, and if supplied with proper amount of capital for the 

 purchase of proper tools and fertilizers, he will doubtless surpass 

 the average of book-hating farmers. Indeed, if he is not wanting 

 in observation and executive force, his success is far more certain 

 than that of the farm laborer, who has only become expert in the 

 use of tools, practicing only on precedent, and incapable of study- 

 ing cause and effect. 



There is no secret about it. My farm had been considered aa 



