FERTILIZATION. 129 



kets of our cities and large towns. However this may- 

 be, with many another, I shall remain and pursue my 

 calling among the scenes of my childhood and the insti- 

 tutions founded by our fathers. .That we may be able 

 to do so, meeting competition, improving our farms, and 

 ge'tting a fair return for our labor and capital, is the 

 problem before us. In attempting to increase the pro- 

 ductive powers of our forms, and in all contemplated im- 

 provements, we must bear in mind that there is a question 

 of capital involved, and before commencing we must count 

 the cost as well as estimate the gains. First, we must de- 

 cide what shall be the feeding or producing power that we 

 wish to attain, — what number of cattle shall the farm sui>- 

 port? Having decided this, the next point should be to de- 

 termine the least number of acres upon which this can 

 be done. In England, it is not unusual for a farmer to keep 

 as many cattle as he has acres under cultivation ; but we 

 need not cross the water for examples of high cultivation 

 and great fertility. Many names might be mentioned in our 

 own State of those who, by skilful and judicious manage- 

 ment, not only sell large amounts of vegetables and fruit, 

 but raise the fodder for as many cows or horses as they have 

 acres under cultivation. That these cases are exceptional I 

 grant, yet it is among this class of farmers who practice high 

 and thorough cultivation, that we see success. We never 

 have known such to complain that they had made their acres 

 too fertile, or produced harvests too abundant for the mar- 

 kets ; yet how many Massachusetts farmers there are who 

 not only pay taxes upon large areas, the expense of fencing, 

 and actually cultivate (as they call it) five acres for the 

 maintenance of a single cow ? This system results in loss 

 and discouragement to the owner, and brings reproach upon 

 his calling. Far better would it be for most of our farmers 

 to narrow their bounds and contract their limits, tear away 

 the fences that run over the rocky summits and around the 

 hillsides of their outlying acres, set and encourage the growth 

 of the great varieties of forest trees indigenous to such soils, 

 and restore to nature's wilds that of which she never should 

 have been deprived. 



To gratify my delight in seeing crops grow, I have pur- 



