was about; and that I should soon get tired
of it. I am proud to say that by adhering
to the principles of temperance, frugality,
and industry, I have for the last seven
years been enabled to support myself and my
family, in a comfortable and respectable
manner." And all upon two acres of land,
entirely managed by his own head, and
cultivated by his own hands. ,

His family have as many potatoes as
they can eat. They annually use up sixteen
bushels of wheat. This he explains
is consumed in brown bread, in his family,
instead of white—that is whole meal bread,
just as the wheat is ground, without the
coarse bran being taken out. " I do not
practise this from necessity, but from choice,
feeling convinced that it is more beneficial
to my health, and more wholesome than
the finest flour." By this expedient, he adds
sixteen stone of meal to the whole quantity
he consumes. Unstinted in their consumption
of butter, vegetables, and milk, his family
yearly consumed, besides, one of their two
pigs weighing eight stone, and a portion of
the " fatted calf," they kill in the house, and
sell among the neighbours.

"I can hardly express in terms sufficiently
strong," observes this village patriarch, " the
pleasure I feel in subsisting upon all the
necessaries of life—manufactured, as it were,
by my own hands—pure, fresh, and free from
adulteration. I am proud to say, that I am
in possession of an abundance of all the good
living that any rational man ought to wish
for.''

By this mode of life our Suffolk sage
escapes all indirect taxes—and to show how
much he thus saves, he quotes the weekly
expenditure of William Blaxland, a working
man of Birmingham, who, out of an outlay of
seven shillings and seven-pence halfpenny,
hands over to the Government no less a
proportion than five shillings and three-pence.
"I was," continues John, " so astounded at
this statement, that I thought if I could see
the time when I should be enabled to produce
my own food, and be content with Adam's
ale, what a considerable sum I should be
saving in taxes, in the course of a year. I
have lived to accomplish my purpose, to the
full extent I can desire."

But now for the two acre budget—the most
surprising particulars of ways and means that,
probably, ever Chancellor of Exchequer
exhibited.

"The following is a correct statement of the
produce sold after the family's consumption,
keeping two cows, fattening one calf and rearing
one, and fattening two pigs, besides reserving
seed for next year's cropping. The calf I
fatted weighed nine stone of fourteen pounds
to the stone, at seven weeks' old, which I had
killed in the house, and sold it amongst my
friends and neighbours; the price I made of
it was seven-pence per lb.,  or eight and
twopence per stone of 14 Ibs.

SOLD, PRODUCE OF THE YEAR 1847.

Produce of two cows, after family's consumption,

fattening one calf, and weaning one . . . £29 12 8

One calf fatted weighed 9 stone, at
8s. 2d. per stone of 14 Ibs. . . £3 12 6

Skin, head, feet, &c. . .             0 16 0

                                               ————-      4  8  6

One year old heifer                                   5  0  0

One fat pig of 8 stone at 8s. per stone      3  4  0

Twenty sacks of potatoes at 8s                 8  0  0

Twelve bushels early ditto at 5s                3  0  0

Seven thousand cabbages at one halfpenny  14 11  8

Twelve pecks of onions at 1s                    0  12 0

Various seeds, vegetables, &c                  5 15 0

                                                                Â£74 3 10

Deduct rent for land, at five per cent,
on purchase money (including expenses) 250l £12 10 0

Rent of House       8  0  0

Rates, Taxes, &c   2 12 0

                              ————                           23 2  0

Net profit for the year .                           £51 1 10

This statement is an under, rather than
over estimate of the actual annual results of
this experiment. In fact, it is not an account
of what John's ten fingers and two acres of
land produce, but of what is left over after
feeding, housing, and taxing the family. The
rent is extravagant in the extreme. The best
land in England may be rented at forty
shillings per acre, so that there is here an
overcharge of eight pounds ten shillings.
The rent of the house is no charge upon the
land. The consumption of the family should,
of course, be added to the credit side of the
account; and therefore the real net produce
stands thus:—

As before stated .                                 £74 3 10

One fat. pig consumed by family . . ..        3 4  0
Two quarters of wheat at 45s. per quarter . . 4 10  0
Potatoes, butter, milk, vegetables, &c., say . . 10 0  0
Manure of two cows, two pigs, and two calves; no
credit being taken for straw, hay, or food ..       6  0  0

                                                                       —————-
                                                                        97 7  10

Deduct rent, 4l., Taxes 1I. 6s. .                          5 6  0
                                                                        —————-
Net profit of the year of two acres . .               £82 11 10

Here is the proof of the "might that's in a
peasant's arm; " not that all peasants are
John Silletts. Since the age of the Peripatetics,
the world has seldom produced such a
practical philosopher. Indeed, while the
Greek sages but talked, the English Wise
Man has acted all his own precepts, and
proved them to be such as man can live by.
He has solved the vexed problem of the
economies of small farms, and spade
husbandry. He shows that the system is not
only the most productive in the gross yield,
but also in the real profit. While the large
farmers, and extensive proprietors, protest
that they cannot afford to farm at present
prices, even if they got the land for nothing,
here is a man, bred a haberdasher, and so
ignorant of agriculture, that, until he resorted
to it in despair, late in life, he tells the
reader that " he never saw a sow have a
litter, till he had his own," who can afford a
fair rent, pay all taxes, and have a return of
forty guineas per acre for his labour.