PRACTICAL PAPERS —SUCCESS Ii V P ARMING. 375 
m five to eight years, as circumstances seem to require, with a ro¬ 
tation of crops, using all the manure made, with thorough culture, 
the most of the lands of Wisconsin would be in a healthy and 
highly productive condition generations hence. 
4th. If your lands are still being reduced in fertility, apply 
the best commercial manures you can obtain. Buy in limited 
quantities and experiment fully, and, if found successful, purchase 
again the same brand, and of the same party, if he stands high 
in commercial circles as a man of honesty and fair dealing. 
Farmers of Wisconsin, the wealth and prosperity of the state 
largely depend upon you. Ponder well this subject of improving 
your lands. View it in all its bearings, from a thoughtful and in¬ 
telligent standpoint, and I think you will conclude that the sys¬ 
tem of preservation and renovation which I have here but imper¬ 
fectly and feebly sketched, if carried out, will result in rich lands, 
rich farmers, a general thrift and enterprise in every department 
•of human activity, and the highest happiness and prosperity 
throughout our beautiful state. 
ELEMENTS OF SUCCESS IN FARMING. 
Read before the State Agricultural Convention, in Feb., 1873. 
/ 
BY G. E. MORROW, EDITOR WESTERN FARMER. 
That farmer is most successful who secures the largest returns 
for the capital invested ; not in any one year or any half dozen 
years, but for a long series of years ; not counting the money in¬ 
vested alone, but the time and thought as well; not returns in 
money alone, but in comfort, in health, in all that makes civilized 
« 
life pleasant and to be desired. 
A farmer may secure large returns in money for a few years at 
the expense of his farm, thus using up his capital to make the 
present income large ; but this is not good farming. A farmer 
may not only secure large returns each year, but also increase the 
