AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 421 



have facilities for saving labor that will more than balance the 

 high price of hand-labor by enabling the farmer to dispense 

 with a large portion of it. These and similar things are pro- 

 ducing a revolution in farming, that will render it more attrac- 

 tive and more productive. By their means we shall be al)le to 

 cultivate more land with less labor and expense than at present, 

 or to cultivate the same amount of land better, and with a 

 corresponding augmentation of productions. This conviction 

 has taken strong hold of the minds of the best farmers of 

 Europe, who receive with enthusiasm and employ to great 

 advantage the inventions of our countrymen in this depart- 

 ment. We ought not to be behind them in enterprise. 



We may add to these the reclaiming of meadows, deeper 

 ploughing and drainage, less dependence on poor pastures and 

 more green soiling, more careful selection of farm stock, more 

 roots for fodder, good barn cellars, the more general use of 

 guano, lime, bones, salt and other concentrated manures, solid 

 and liquid, greater economy in the application of manures, 

 more frequent taking up of lays and less topdressing, — in short, 

 a constant reference to the principles on which a rational tillage 

 of the soil ought to be founded. By these and similar means 

 we may hope to inaugurate a new era in agriculture, which 

 shall combine intellectual progress and pecuniary profit. 



4th. Another thought should have some weight with the 

 young farmers of Norfolk county, before they abandon farming 

 as unprofitable. They live near a great centre of population 

 demanding to be fed ; and if the old routine of grass and corn 

 proves unprofitable, niay they not inquire whether vegetables 

 and fruits may not be substituted in their place ? These are so 

 perishable that they cannot be brought from a great distance, 

 and therefore competition with more fertile regions is avoided. 

 It seems nearly impossible so to supply the market as materially 

 to reduce the price of these things. Ten or a dozen acres cul- 

 tivated garden-fashion may be made to support a family better 

 than many large farms do now. The orchard too, is a source 

 of profit, when managed with judgment. The nearer farmers 

 approach to the practices of the gardeners, the more likely will 

 they be to succeed, whether they supply the daily markets or 

 not. • 



