瓦爾登湖：經濟篇24

　　Before I finished my house， wishing to earn ten or twelve dollars by some honest and agreeable method， in order to meet my unusual expenses， I planted about two acres and a half of light and sandy soil near it chiefly with beans， but also a small part with potatoes， corn， peas， and turnips.  The whole lot contains eleven acres， mostly growing up to pines and hickories， and was sold the preceding season for eight dollars and eight cents an acre.  One farmer said that it was "good for nothing but to raise cheeping squirrels on."  I put no manure whatever on this land， not being the owner， but merely a squatter， and not expecting to cultivate so much again， and I did not quite hoe it all once.  I got out several cords of stumps in plowing， which supplied me with fuel for a long time，and left small circles of virgin mould， easily distinguishable through the summer by the greater luxuriance of the beans there. The dead and for the most part unmerchantable wood behind my house，and the driftwood from the pond， have supplied the remainder of my fuel.  I was obliged to hire a team and a man for the plowing，though I held the plow myself.  My farm outgoes for the first season were， for implements， seed， work， etc.， $14.72+.  The seed corn was given me.  This never costs anything to speak of， unless you plant more than enough.  I got twelve bushels of beans， and eighteen bushels of potatoes， beside some peas and sweet corn.  The yellow corn and turnips were too late to come to anything.  My whole income from the farm was $ 23.44 Deducting the outgoes ……  14.72+

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　　There are left …… $  8.71+

　　beside produce consumed and on hand at the time this estimate was made of the value of $4.50 ―― the amount on hand much more than balancing a little grass which I did not raise.  All things considered， that is， considering the importance of a man's soul and of today， notwithstanding the short time occupied by my experiment，nay， partly even because of its transient character， I believe that that was doing better than any farmer in Concord did that year.

　　The next year I did better still， for I spaded up all the land which I required， about a third of an acre， and I learned from the experience of both years， not being in the least awed by many celebrated works on husbandry， Arthur Young among the rest， that if one would live simply and eat only the crop which he raised， and raise no more than he ate， and not exchange it for an insufficient quantity of more luxurious and expensive things， he would need to cultivate only a few rods of ground， and that it would be cheaper to spade up that than to use oxen to plow it， and to select a fresh spot from time to time than to manure the old， and he could do all his necessary farm work as it were with his left hand at odd hours in the summer； and thus he would not be tied to an ox， or horse， or cow， or pig， as at present.  I desire to speak impartially on this point， and as one not interested in the success or failure of the present economical and social arrangements.  I was more independent than any farmer in Concord， for I was not anchored to a house or farm， but could follow the bent of my genius， which is a very crooked one， every moment.  Beside being better off than they already， if my house had been burned or my crops had failed， I should have been nearly as well off as before.

　　在我的房屋建成之前，我就想用老實又愉快的方式來賺它十元十二元的，以償付我的額外支出，我在兩英畝半的屋邊的沙地上種了點東西，主要是蠶豆，也種了一點土豆，玉米，豌豆和蘿卜。我總共占了十一英畝地，大都長著松樹和山核桃樹，上一季的地價是八元零八分一英畝。有一個農夫說這地“毫無用處，只好養(yǎng)一些嘰嘰叫的松鼠”。我沒有在這片地上施肥，我不是它的主人，不過是一個居住在無主之地上的人，我不希望種那么多的地，就沒有一下于把全部的地都鋤好。鋤地時，我挖出了許多樹根來，有幾“考德”，供我燃燒了很久，這就留下了幾小圈未耕作過的沃土，當蠶豆在夏天里長得異常茂盛的時候是很容易區(qū)別它們的。房屋后面那些枯死的賣不掉的樹木和湖上漂浮而來的木頭也供給了我其余的一部分燃料。我卻不能不租一組犁地的馬和雇一個短工，但掌犁的還是我自己。我的農場支出，第一季度在工具、種子和工資等方面，一總十四元七角兩分五。玉米種子是人家送的。種子實在不值多少錢，除非你種得比需要量更多。

　　我收獲蠶豆十二蒲式耳，土豆十八蒲式耳，此外還有若干豌豆和王米。黃玉米和蘿卜種晚了，沒有收成。農場的收入全部是：二三。四四元減去支出一四。七二五元結余八。七一五元除了我消費掉的和手頭還存著一些的產品之外，估計約值四元五角――手上的儲存已超出了我自己不能生產的一點兒蔬菜的需要量。從全面考慮，這是說，我考慮到人的靈魂和時間的重要性，我雖然為了這個實驗占去了我很短的一些時間，不，一部分也因為它的時間非常短暫，我就確信我今年的收成比康科德任第二年，我就干得更好了，因為我把總需要量的全部土地統(tǒng)統(tǒng)種上了，只不過一英畝的三分之一，從這兩年的經驗中，我發(fā)現(xiàn)了我沒有給那些農業(yè)巨著嚇倒，包括亞瑟。

　　揚的著作在內。我發(fā)現(xiàn)一個人如果要簡單地生活，只吃他自己收獲的糧食，而且并不耕種得超過他的需要，也不無饜足地交換更奢侈、更昂貴的物品，那末他只要耕幾平方桿的地就夠了：用鏟子比用牛耕又便宜得多；每次可更換一塊新地，以免給舊地不斷地施肥，而一切農場上的必要勞動，只要他夏天有空閑的時候略略做一做就夠了；這樣他就不會像日前的人們那樣去和一頭牛，或馬，或母牛，或豬玀，捆綁在一起。在這一點上，我希望大公無私他說話，作為一個對目前社會經濟措施的成敗都不關心的人。我比康科德的任何一個農夫都更具獨立性，因為我沒有拋錨固定在一座房屋或一個農場上，我能隨我自己的意向行事，那意向是每一剎那都變化多端的。況且我的光景已經比他們的好了許多，如果我的房子燒掉了，或者我歉收了，我還能跟以前一樣地過得很好。

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