WHAT SHALL WE RAISE ? 3 



tury ago. How far they can be economically improved, it is 

 impossible to predict. But all can be improved. Where the 

 pastures consist of good and clear land, they may be culti- 

 vated and manured for a few years, and the stock in the mean- 

 time turned into the poorer fields, and thus the pastures be 

 fully renovated. Where this is not practicable, they may be 

 much improved for years by a sing'e ploughing and seeding 

 down, even without the application of manures. Any stir- 

 ring up of their soils will prove beneficial. 



These are a few of the sus^ofestions which occur in reference 

 to the change required in the agriculture of our section. The 

 crops which have been referred to, have been selected not as 

 the only crops to be grown, but as the principal staples for 

 the market. Our farmers, in the necessary rotation of crops, 

 will find it for their advantage to raise more or less of the 

 products which are unprofitaljle in the market. They will 

 grow some crops for their own consumption, which they can 

 purchase cheaper. But the-e crops will be subsidiary to the 

 main productions. They will also find with the further 

 growth of our own and the other sections, that additional 

 changes in the varieties of crops to be cultivated will be 

 required. We are advancing fiist and far. The various and 

 rapidly increasing industrial pursuits in which the people of 

 the country are engaged, a«t and re-act upon each other, and 

 all are undergoing constant modifications with the wonderful 

 developments of every year. 



Thus the farmer of New England is reaping his share of 

 the blessings which the system of reciprocity organized by 

 our fathers has conferred upon the people of the country. 

 But this the former does not always appreciate. Listead of 

 comparing his condition with that of the farmer of half a cen- 

 tury ago, he is apt to contrast the profits of his fields with 

 the profits which, at the present time, capital employed in 

 other industries yields. He sees fortunes made in trade and 

 manufactures which he can never hope to realize from his 

 farm, and it tends to discontent. He even concludes that 

 farming in New England is a doomed occupation. But if he' 

 will survey the whole field, and consider all the circumstances- 

 and contingencies of the different occupations, he will find! 

 much for his encouragement. It is an accepted business 



