Financial Results. 197 



be much worse or much better than a farmer could obtain who 

 imitated my system. Confucius, the Chinese philosopher, once 

 said : — " If I show one comer of a subject to a man, and he 

 cannot see the other three comers for himself, then I can do 

 nothing with him." In the same way it is only necessary for the 

 farmer to visit one of my young grass fields, which are always 

 full of Leguminosse, and if, after going into the cost of production, 

 lie cannot see for himself all the consequential results which 

 must arise from such a field, then I can do nothing with or 

 for him. 



But there is another and most important financial point to be 

 considered. Farming, Hke every other business, consists of a 

 capital account and the profits that may be made out of capital. 

 It is of obvious importance that stock should be carefully taken of 

 the latter — that it should be seen whether it is advancing, standing 

 still, or declining. Landlords' capital mainly consists of soU, and 

 the condition of the soil mainly depends on the amount of humus 

 it contains. About 100 years ago Scottish agricultural capital 

 was on a sound footing, because the system pursued maintained 

 the humus of the soil {vide paper delivered at Cambridge, 

 Appendix IX.). It is in an unsound condition now, because 

 from continuous liming and the use of artificial manures the 

 humus of the soil has unmensely declined (hence the numerous 

 complaints of the exhaustion of the soil), and is declining 

 steadily except in those rare cases where enough farmyard 

 manure can be obtained to keep up the supply of humus. The 

 object of my farming system at Olifton-on-Bowmont is to show 

 how Scottish agriculture may be restored to its originally ^ound 

 position — not only to replace, but to steadily increase, the 

 humus of the soU, and render the farmer, as he once was, 

 independent of the use of artificial manures, though, as I have 

 elsewhere pointed out, these may stiU be used under certain 

 circumstances to a moderate extent. In other words, my 

 farming system is directed to restoring the capital of the land- 

 lord to its originally sound and safe position, to lessen the 

 expenditure at present required by the tenant, and place all his 

 crops in a safe position for contending at once against foreign 

 competition and vicissitudes of climate. How these ends may 

 be achieved most economically has been shown at Clifton-on- 



