FARMING FOR SUCCESS. 75 



EXTEXSIVE FARMING FOR SUCCESS; 



BY rUOF. .1. W. SANBORN, 



Of tlie Xcw ITanipsliire College of Agriculture. 



"We are liv-ing in a decisive period in the history of New Enghmd 

 farming — at the parting of two S3'stems of husbandry, stan(hng in 

 marked contrast to each other. The watchword of the old has been 

 " Small ai'cas well tilled." The new for |)rofit will exact large areas 

 well tilled. The old was based upon a limited supply of yard ma- 

 nure and limited use of hired labor ; assumed that laljor could not 

 be prolital)ly employed, and exacted the farmer's fullest capacit}' to 

 toil. The new, upon an unlimited supplj- of plant food, the free 

 employment of machinery in supplementing labor in extended tillage. 

 The old, made hay the leading crop and reaped a gross income but 

 little above a satisfactory net income. It had all the marks of a 

 low type of farming. We have rallied around " small areas well 

 tilled" to the tune of lower-priced farms, and have rallied again to 

 smaller ones to be answered b}- still declining values, and this has 

 gone on for thirtj- to fort}' years. No business for so long a period 

 of time ever sold its original property for less than cost of improve- 

 ments and was considered prosperous. Prosperous bank, manu- 

 facturing or railroad stocks never, for extended periods, underpaying 

 dividends sell for fifty cents on the dollar. Unpleasant as it ma}' 

 be to measure the prosperit}' of farming 1)y this axiomatic fact, yet 

 the interest of true men are best served by looking facts squarely in 

 the face. Only then can they act to best advantage. The facts 

 are, then, that western products aided l)y cheap freights have given 

 a low price to our products ; that cheap products of a small business 

 can give only small gross profits. 



Large Profits 



Are the product only of an extended business under low prices, in 

 farming as elsewhere. Large leases have given a rich tenantry to 

 England, while ten acre fan us have clothed the French peasants 

 with wooden shoes. The policy by which we have lost for a long 

 period isi obviously not the one to pursue further. I Avould till, 



