By surveying, carpentry, and day-labor of various other kinds in the village in the meanwhile, for I have as many trades as fingers, I had earned $13.34. The expense of food for eight months, namely, from July 4th to March 1st, the time when these estimates were made, though I lived there more than two years — not counting potatoes, a little green corn, and some peas, which I had raised, nor considering the value of what was on hand at the last date — was
| Rice, | $1.73½ | ||
| Molasses, | 1.73 | Cheapest form of the saccharine. | |
| Rye meal, | 1.04¾ | ||
| Indian meal, | 0.99¾ | Cheaper than rye. | |
| Pork, | 0.22 | ||
| Flour, | 0.88 | Costs more than Indian meal, both money and trouble. |
} } } } } }All }experi- }ments }which }failed. } } } } } |
| Sugar, | 0.80 | ||
| Lard, | 0.65 | ||
| Apples, | 0.25 | ||
| Dried apple, | 0.22 | ||
| Sweet potatoes, | 0.10 | ||
| One pumpkin, | 0.06 | ||
| One watermelon, | 0.02 | ||
| Salt, | 0.03 | ||
Yes, I did eat $8.74, all told; but I should not thus unblushingly publish my guilt, if I did not know that most of my readers were equally guilty with myself, and that their deeds would look no better in print. The next year I sometimes caught a mess of fish for my dinner, and once I went so far as to slaughter a woodchuck which ravaged my bean-field — effect his transmigration, as a Tartar would say — and devour him, partly for experiment's sake; but though it afforded me a momentary enjoyment, notwithstanding a musky flavor, I saw that the longest use would not make that a good practice, however it might seem to have your woodchucks ready dressed by the village butcher.
