Yield

“ Of these, the most obvious is the progress of agricultural knowledge, skill, and invention. Improved processes of agriculture are of two kinds: some enable the land to yield a greater absolute produce, without an equivalent increase of labour; others have not the power of increasing the produce, but have that of diminishing the labour and expense by which it is obtained. ”

“ Perhaps it will not be absurd to suppose, that the same quantity of land, directed by the superior hand of cultivation, in the eighteenth century, will yield twice the produce, as by the ignorant management of the thirteenth. ”

“ The yield for the year gives almost no information about the normal yield over a series of years, but the area planted depends very largely upon that yield. The farmer knows that it will pay, on the average, to sow a certain number of acres, and the area under cultivation is not subject to violent fluctuations, as is the crop reaped. ”

“ There is just now abroad amongst us a teaching to the effect that the farmer cannot afford to put much additional effort into his crop production, inasmuch as the profit in an acre may not depend on the increase in yield, and therefore he does not carry an obligation to augment his acre-yields. ”

“ He who improves an opportunity sows a seed which will yield fruit in opportunity for himself and others. ”

“ Restored to his native country in 1800, after some ten years’ absence, he notes the progress of agricultural reform. Large estates have given place to very small ones, which, as a rule, produce a yield at least one-fourth more abundant than the old. ”

“ Would a farmer expect to have full harvests if each year he saved seed from the poorest yielding plants, or could he hope to secure the best results from his herds by selling or butchering the best stock and keeping only the scrubs? ”

“ In these three States there are men who are making good profits out of farming, producing yields far better than the average, and not only maintaining, but in some cases increasing, the fertility of their fields. ”

“ That in the commencement of cultivation, when population is small and land consequently abundant, the best soils—those capable of yielding the largest return, say one hundred quarters to a given quantity of labour—alone are cultivated. ”

“ I sometimes take the liberty of preaching upon economy to this people. Perhaps some are inclined to think that in so doing I transcend my own duties and obligations. I do not. I instruct the husbandman how to till his farm, because I know and understand the nature of the elements that produce grain better than he does. I know how he should prepare the elements for the seed to produce the increase which he desires in the things necessary to sustain himself and family. It is my duty to instruct my brethren, if I understand any branch of business better than they do. ”

“ Cultivation is the economy of force. Science teaches us the simplest means of obtaining the greatest effect with the smallest expenditure of power, and with given means to produce a maximum of force. The unprofitable exertion of power, the waste of force in agriculture, in other branches of industry, in science, or in social economy, is characteristic of the savage state, or of the want of knowledge.
In accordance with what I have already stated, you will perceive that the substances of which the food of man is composed may be divided into two classes ”

“ If a man borrows money from a merchant, and has given to the merchant a field planted with grain or sesame, and says to him: “Cultivate the field and harvest and take the grain or sesame which it produces”; if the tenant produces grain or sesame in the field, at the time of harvest the owner of the field shall take the grain or sesame which was produced by the field, and shall give to the merchant grain for the money which he borrowed from the merchant with its interest, and for the maintenance of the farmer. ”

“ It is a favorite simile among writers on education that the mind is not unlike a field, and that the steps of instruction answer to the successive stages of the farmer's work. First there is the preparation of the soil, then come the planting, the cultivating, and in due time the harvest, the mill, and the market. Two of these steps, the preparing and the applying, concern us here; the work of presenting and elaborating is a theme by itself, and has been treated in a separate chapter. ”

“ Before sowing your seed it behooves you to study these elements because they are the origin of all growing things. So prepared, the farmer should direct his efforts to two ends: profit and pleasure, one solid the other agreeable: but he should give the preference to the pursuit of profit. And yet those who have regard for appearances in their farming, as for instance by planting their orchards and olive yards in orderly array, often add not only to the productiveness of the farm but as well to its saleability, and so doubly increase the value of their estate. ”

“ When the land is cleared it is ready for ploughing if our young farmer has a plough or can get the loan of one. If he can do neither at present, I would suggest his getting one crop off the land in the meantime. ”

“ If the laying out judiciously and well cultivating a small estate, sowing it with proper grain at the best time of the year, watering it in due season and quantities, and gathering in the fruits when ripe, and laying them up in the best manner,--if all these effects prove the estate to have a manager, and the manager possessed of skill and strength,--certainly the enlightening and warming the whole earth by the sun, and so directing its motion and the motion of the earth as to produce in a constant useful succession day and night, summer and winter, seed time and harvest ”

“ Every new regulation concerning commerce, or revenue, or manufactures, or agriculture, or in any manner affecting the relative value of the different species of property, presents a new harvest to those, who watch the change, and can trace the consequences; a harvest, which is torn from the hand of the honest labourer, or the confiding artisan, to enrich those, who coolly look on to reap profit, where they have sown nothing. ”

“ Thus it will be easy for every one to learn the best method of improving his land, what to plant, and how to cleanse it from the tares that might choke the good seed. All may ask what they desire, and every reasonable demand will be granted, if it be conformable to the great end. ”

“ We further propose that the society recommend to each of its practical members, regularly to enter in writing, the preparation and state of the ground, at the time of sowing or planting each crop, the quantity and kind of manure and seed per acre, particulars relative to the weather, the process of culture, the times of sowing and gathering, and the amount of produce per acre, with such other particulars as may be thought worthy of notice, each part of which to be annually laid before them, in order that such facts as are deemed worthy of preservation, may be laid before the society. ”

“ Also seed sown for growing. And seed in the barn awaiting the sowing season, that too is Capital. Seed in the field sprouting and growing and producing grain for the coming harvest, is likewise Capital. ”

“ Whatever advantage is given to a producer by his possession of land is likely to form his estimate of its value. In the comparison of two farms of equal dimensions every difference in fertility, location as to drainage, exposure, or convenience to market or social advantages, adaptability to improved methods in agriculture and convenience of arrangement, will enter into the estimate of worth. ”

“ To make, you have to spend; to grow a crop, you have to plant the seed. Here's where you plunge—it is a gamble, a bet on the seed versus the eternal cussedness of things. It's you against the chances of a crop. ”

“ When an analysis is obtained, a regular debtor and creditor account may be kept with the soil; and the farmer may know by the composition of the ashes of his crops, and the manures supplied, whether he is maintaining the fertility of his soil. ”

“ As the crops are produced, so are the tenths sold. But it is for the interest of the cultivator, that his crops should be such that the tenths may be able to be sold at as high a price as possible. As long as the cultivator does not give more than a tenth, it is for his interest that the tenth should be as large as possible. 148But, I imagine, you mean this to be the chief article of your defence, that you sold all the tenths at a high price, but the tenths of the Leontine district, which produces the most, for two hundred and sixteen thousand modii of wheat. ”

“ The various parts, materials, and agents that unite to form products are called the factors of production. In a general sense every separate thing that enters into industry is a factor; as, in agriculture, for example, the seed, plows, fields, fences, barns, cattle, labor. But usually in economic discussion, these numerous factors are grouped in large classes. The main factors are two, variously named as man [Pg 261] and nature, or labor and material agents, or humanity and wealth. ”

“ The cost for labor of cultivating a given area of land will depend not only on the crop or crops to be raised, the climate, the topography and character of the soil, the size and shape of the fields and the system of cropping, but also upon the man’s ability for organization. ”

“ The corn in the gardens should be raised by dibbling; a method already practised with success, in many parts of the kingdom. Where 10s. per acre is the value of the land, 5s. per annum might consequently be added as quit-rent:—the fine on putting in a life, should not exceed one year's purchase, computed on the real value. ”

“ I am very glad to learn that your farm is promising better in the second cultivation of the fields, and feel assured that if treated judiciously it will recover its fertility and be remunerative. If you can perceive that you are progressing, though with a slow and regular step, you have cause for congratulation and encouragement ”

“ Grant me my life, my King, and I will give thee a bonnie gift—four-and-twenty mills that are working all the year round for me—four-and-twenty mills that shall go for thee all the year round, and as much good red wheat as all their happers are able to bear. ”

“ If any one take over a field to till it, and obtain no harvest therefrom, it must be proved that he did no work on the field, and he must deliver grain, just as his neighbor raised, to the owner of the field. ”

“ The result would be similar, if instead of supposing the same quantity of produce to be obtained by the same quantity of labour, we were to suppose the greatest variations to take place in the fertility of the soil, and, consequently, in the productive power of labour. ”

“ The wonderfully procreative power of figures, or, rather, their accumulative growth, has been exemplified in that familiar story of the farmer, who, undertaking to pay his farrier one grain of wheat for the first nail, two for the second, four for the third, and so on, found that he had bargained to give the farrier more wheat than was grown in all England. ”

“ Then, if we plant this grain, at the first crop we shall reap eight hundred grains, which at the second will produce six hundred and forty thousand; at the third, five hundred and twelve millions; at the fourth, more than four hundred thousands of millions! There is the proportion. ”

“ An improvement in the method of cultivation which, with the same outlay, will give two crops a year in place of one, or an improvement in tools and machinery which will double the result of labor, will manifestly, on a particular piece of ground, have the same effect on the produce as a doubling of the fertility of the land. ”

“ In keeping his accounts the farmer should give himself credit for the subsistence of himself and family from the farm and also should take cognizance of appreciation or depreciation in the value of his land. ”

“ The power of grain to multiply itself, even in the same year, is a subject as much of curiosity and astonishment as of importance and general utility. For the farther elucidation of this text, I shall give the following example from a practice in agriculture, or rural economy, which is termed filtering. ”

“ A farmer requires about 5000l. capital to make a successful start, and must be prepared to unlearn all English ideas of farming, and learn those adapted to the soil and climate, unless he wants "to run a mucker," as the phrase goes. ”

“ I could recommend no man to run into debt for a great farm, expecting that farm to work him out of it but he who inherited or has acquired a large farm, well stocked, and knows how to make it pay, may well cling to it, and count himself fortunate in its possession. But the great farmer is already regarded with sufficient envy. ”

“ No one growing for market should plant all these sorts except in a large plantation, a first rate soil, and a well sheltered position. For market only take Bon Chrétien, Amanlis, Fertility, Durondeau, Pitmaston Duchess, Josephine de Malines, Verulam. ”

“ The soil being tilled by its owner’s labor, the farmer is supposed to raise live stock. We remember that two horses to a farm is the minimum required to constitute a strong household, the normal approaching three horses upon an average. ”