FARMS. 23 



have seen this season two fickls separated only hy a road — the 

 situation and soil of both, the same. One produced seventy- 

 five bushels of corn to the acre ; the other was judj^ed by its 

 appearance before harvest likely to yield twenty-live bushels. 

 The former belonged to a man whose whole land comprised but 

 a few acres ; the latter to a farmer wlio counts his acres by the 

 hundred. 



Tliis is a s])ecimon of what is seen in every part of the 

 county; although it woidd be wrong to deny that a manifest 

 improvement is in progress. There is no doubt that a hundred 

 bushels of corn can be raised on one acre with no more expense 

 and hibor than are originally laid out to raise the saute amount 

 on three acres. Intelligent farmers who see this, are not slow 

 to a))preciate tlie advantages of a process that saves so much 

 labor. The same, or a similar remark, may be made of otlier 

 crops. The i)ith and marrow of the imj)rovement now most 

 desirable, and now in fact beginning to be made, consists in 

 concentrating all the energies and means of the farmer upon 

 narrow limits, and practising the highest and most thorough 

 kinds of culture. In other words, the nearer farmers approach to 

 the practices of gardeners, the greater the probability of success. 

 In our intercourse with farmers, we have usually found a 

 ready acknowledgment of the correctness of this doctrine. 

 When the truth is seen and felt, it will not be long in hnding a 

 practical application. Such facilities exist for the diffusion of 

 information, that experiments successfully tri(;d soon reach 

 every portion of the comnnmity interested in them. Wc are 

 reminded by this remark, of tlie extended use of guano. But 

 a few years ago it was looked uj)on with distrust by many of 

 our best farmers, who could not imagine how so small a (quan- 

 tity of manure could contain fei'tilizing elements sufficient to 

 supply the demands of the growing crops. Such skepticism 

 was natural, and wise in man, whose means would not allow of 

 expensive experiments upon doid)tful conditions. By gra(hial 

 advances guano has made its way into every town in the county, 

 and during the past season large quantities have been used. 

 How large we cannot tell ; but we know of towns in which scores 

 of persons have cmj)loyed it, witli various results, as might 

 have been expected. So powerful an agent, used by persons 

 unacquainted witli its nature, must necessarily, in some in- 

 stances, have been unwisely managed, and of course disap- 



