QQS HOW TO JIAKE THE FAEM PAY. 



A great advantage attending its cultivation consists in the valu<» 

 of tlie pens remaining in the ground after the crop is gathered. 

 The liogs are turned on the field, where they thrive rapidly. So 

 rich is Ihc nut in nutritious matter, that many farmers tliink the 

 portion remaining in the ground after digging is e(iual in vnlne, 

 as food for hogs, to the entire crop of corn the land would have 

 produced. 



Making the Most of a Farm. — In every neighborhood a 

 striking difference in the productiveness of farms may be noted ; 

 and this Variation, wheu acre is matched against acre, cannot, in 

 most cases, justly be attributed to the diversit}- of the soil, lait 

 rather to tho effect of the methods by which the farming is con- 

 ducted. It is the dillerence of character in the farmers, and of the 

 objects they aim at, which are illustrated in their labor and its pro- 

 ducts. And various as are these methods and their results, yet 

 we have little doubt but ever}^ farmer flatters himself that, consid- 

 ering circumstances, he is making the most of his farm. We will 

 briefly sketch some of the various ways by which farmers strive to 

 reach the same end. 



One adopts the skinning process ; his cultivation is shallow but 

 spreads over a good deal of surface. In measuring land he never 

 considers depth but breadth only ; so he sows as many acres as 

 possible, but slights the work and grudges the expenditure of 

 every dollar in that direction. A rich farm and fine improvements 

 are not so desirable in his eyes as a large farm and money at in- 

 terest. He farms at as little expense as possible, and makes his 

 property, — if he is so fortunate with crops of wheat' yielding ten 

 bushels per acre, corn twenty, and grass a ton, — by saving and 

 Ijinching. If he dies young he dies poor, but if he lives to an old 

 age, by miserly economy he maj'^ amass considerable property. 

 Another considers the farm a sort of a mine from which he may 

 draw treasure. He works with skill and i)atience, and spends 

 freely for necessary or profitaljle labor. He keeps good breeds of 

 block, for there is the most profit in such, and builds barns and 

 sheds to shelter them. He sees depth to the soil, as well as 

 breadth, and works accordingly. He underdrains and subsoils, 

 cultivates well, and performs alUabor in the best manner. His ob- 

 ject is to get the most from the soil, and he transforms its pro-" 

 ducts into other forms of wealth. Such a course may answer for 

 one man's lifetime, but in the end his farm will resemble the ■ 

 "squeezed orange," or the mine whence the ore has been taken; 

 and the lodes run out. The majority of what are termed our best 

 dinners in this country are pursuing this plan. It is one that 

 adds little real wealtli to tlie aggregate, for it is substantially but 

 transforming the wealth of the soil into other forms, and as the 

 sod is not inexhaustiMe the time must come when the supply from f 

 ' hat source will diminish. A third, and the smallest of all classes : 

 ■A farmers, adds to thorough and skilful cultivation the more im- 



