THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE, 



345 



sive improvement of wliich tlio soil is capable. For I hold 

 that the commimity have a moral right that the soil ho 

 liroperly farmed, as they have a legal claim on all property 

 that before rent is paid the poor man must be maintained. 

 Having now shown what advantageous fanning is, my next 

 business is to faid out wliy it is so ; or, in the words stated 

 on the card, " the advantages of good farming." The 

 first result of good farming is greater crops, or an in- 

 crease in the necessaries of life. Abundance, which of 

 itself is a great blessing, sets in motion a greater amount 

 of money, which necessarily adds to the comforts of the 

 million. Tlien, again, good farming necessitates the em- 

 ployment of more labour, wliich, under almost all circum- 

 stances, is beneficial. But when we are racking our brains 

 upon inventions that have for their object the diminu- 

 tion of labour, it may bo said that I ought n»t to give 

 good farming credit on tliis account. Yet few of us 

 would grumble at having good crops because they require 

 more labour to secure them than to secure bad ones. But 

 man ought to have a higher and a nobler motive for im- 

 proving and devising machines, than that of depriving his 

 fcUow-man of labour. This excites his distrust and his 

 discontent. Tlie motive should be to relieve men of the 

 drudgery of life — to make tliem the directors of power 

 and of work, and not the doers. The man, who directs a 

 machine that does his work, retiu-ns home not the passive 

 piece of humanity we too often see, but a reflective being. 

 Time— the want of which is the barrier against the ob- 

 taining of knowledge — is, as it were, obtained. It is the 

 fulcrum on which must rest the lever by which he is to be 

 raised in tho social scale- Tlie minds of men, when 

 thoy are relieved from drudgeiy, expand. Good farming 

 promotes this. An increased demand for labour increases 

 its price. And as " necessity is tho mother of invention," 

 Bo high wages stimulate invention. Then, again, whatever 

 may be man's motive for inventing, we may rest assured 

 that wages will not be permanently reduced; because the 

 very introduction of machinery so stimulates other branches 

 of industry, that they absorb any surplus labour set free. 

 The benefit, then, which results from the introduction of 

 machinery, so far as £ s. d. goes, does not arise from a 

 reduction of wages, but because machines — whether for 

 thrashing, reaping, mowing, or for other purposes- 

 enables us to get the work better and cheaper done than 

 by hand; Again, an increased demand for machines 

 tends to improve their manvxfacture. Thus we see that 

 good farming produces abundance, tends to relieve man of 

 toil, elevates his mind, stimulates invention, and improves 

 the make of our implements. In addition to these, it im- 

 proves the climate. But tho most difficult part of our subject 

 remains to be solved. I have said that good farming, to 

 be advantageous, must be profitable. But with increasing 

 rents, increasing wages, increasing taxes, and other in- 

 creasing demands, whilst tho average prices of grain 

 remain nearly stationary, how the tenant is to obtain this 

 profit is a question easier asked than answered. However, 

 it must be admitted that some few farmers do make money. 

 Tliat they do so in a much slower way, and not to that ex. 

 tent that men do who are engaged in manufacturing and 

 in commercial pursuits, or in the px-ofessions, is true. But 

 I believe there are as few wrecks amongst farmers as 

 amongst any other class. The causes that prevent or pro- 

 mote a farmer's success are numerous, alike within and 

 beyond his control. Some are natural to his farm, others 

 arise from the negligence of neighbours, and others from 

 defects in our laws. I will give an illustration in each of 

 these case"^. A soil full to the surface with water cannot 



be farmed profitalily, neither can land adjoining badly 

 managed woods or plantations. They are nurseiies of 

 everything that is obnoxious to good farming. I have seen 

 young plantations in which the thistle reigned triumphant. 

 I have seen liis seed gently drifting— snow-lilce— over 

 adjacent fields. The result wasseeninthe aftercrops. I need 

 not describe it; but I imagine the farmer's character was 

 as much injured as his crops. Again, no farmer can farm 

 profitably in the vicinity of game preserves. 1 need not 

 say why; but I cannot refrain from remarking that, of the 

 two— the game-preserver and the game-destroyer— the 

 former is, in my opinion, the source of greater evil. The 

 latter has been described in this room as " an unmitigated 

 villain." I believe him an evil, a great, but necessary evil. 

 Ho is sapping the ground on which his tempter stands. A 

 man farming under any of these disadvantages suffers 

 more than the mere loss in his crops. However 

 well he may plough, however profusely he may 

 manure, his crops will dwindle away before his eyes. 

 This mortifies him to the very core. He hopes against 

 hope, labours indefatigably, but he cannot get ends to meet. 

 Energy, so essential to success, gradually loses her sway> 

 and tlien he stands in the world— not so much a free man 

 as a serf. The causes that contribute to a farmer's sue 

 cess are, likewise, numerous, such as the geological forma- 

 tion on which his farm rests, its locality, its climate, but the 

 greatest is within himself. I have said that good farming 

 necessitates the employment of more labour, but this does 

 not apply to all the labour on a farm. The expenses of 

 ploughing, of harrowing, and of sowing are the same whe- 

 ther we get good or get bad crops, whether the farm is in 

 good or in bad condition. These expenses, then, we may 

 set down as a constant quantity against the farm. It there- 

 fore is self evident that if we can, ,by a judicious applica- 

 tion of purchased manures, augment our crops, that we 

 shall be gainers in proportion as the value of the extra part 

 of the crop exceeds the value of the manure. Good crops 

 check the growth of weeds, the expense of cleaning land 

 that bears good crops is therefore less than if it bore bad 

 ones. But it must not be inferred that I give manure all 

 the credit of 'good crops, nor that I attribute their failure 

 at all times to a want of it. For to go upon a tenacious 

 retentive soil when in a " pasty " state, whether to cart off" 

 turnips* to plough or to harrow, is, ^nder many circum- 

 stances, tantamount to destroying the crops, however 

 liberally it may have been manured. Farmers' incomes 

 and outlays are so nicely balanced, that no waste can be 

 admitted, whether of produce or of labour. It is therefore 

 absolutely necessary to ensure success, to have aU imple- 

 ments and machines not only constructed on the bestprin. 

 ciples, but of the best materials and workmanship. Men 

 cenerally give preference to low-priced things ; inferior im- 

 plements are a continual source of waste and vexation. I, 

 unfortunately, know too much about the difficulty of getting 

 good material, and I feel that I cannot too strongly con- 

 demn the folly of screwing down implement makers in 

 their prices. I now get a few things from Sheffield, and 

 my instructions are, " Let me have them of the very best 

 material, and make your prices accordingly." If we wish 

 to possess really good implements, wo must act on tho 

 same principle. It is true economy to do so. Bushels 

 over bushels of corn are sent away among the sti'aw to the 

 folds by badly-constructed thrashing machines. Proof of 

 which maybe seen in green stack-tops and in green dung- 

 hills. One-twentieth of this loss is not seen, and what we 

 don't know does not do us any harm. In tho reaping of 

 c- .ps there isfrequ^-' "■ gvi . ' -rasto. I acknowledge tha' 



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