OF CROPS AND THEIR CULTIVATION. 275 



negro becomes familiar, and which he can conduct without a constant superintendence. It is 

 an interesting question, which plan of field operations is the most profitable ; whether the 

 greatest profit is on the side of a multiplicity of products,' or where it is confined to one staple 

 and standard crop 1 It is true that there are casualties which might affect, for a succession or 

 years, a single crop, by which the planter would be a constant loser, and each of the southern 

 staples which have been named are known to fluctuate in value. But the question does not 

 lose its interest when it comes home to the north, for here we may create a staple of Indian 

 corn or wheat, or the attention may be turned to stock, or it may be directed to sheep or dairy 

 husbandry, or to the raising of young stock by pasturage. I say the attention may be turned 

 to either of these branches, exclusively ; the question then would be raised, which plan of hus- 

 bandry is the most profitable, that which confines itself to one staple or that which produces 

 annually many and varied kinds 1 The liability of a failure in a crop, which if it happen strikes 

 out a year's profit or year's labor, with its current expenses to be met, is a consideration which 

 must have great weight in its decision : on the contrary, if several kinds of products are raised, 

 the failure of one will not entirely blast the hopes of the husbandman ; and so varied are the 

 wants of plants of the different products, that it is quite rare and unexpected that a loss by an 

 unfavorable season should affect the crops at large- 

 Questions of this nature are not of easy solution ; they do not turn on a single fact — they 

 have a varied aspect, and must be looked at under a variety of circumstances. Location is a 

 point of much moment ; the pursuits in the neighborhood of large cities are controlled by the 

 wants of such cities ; not entirely, perhaps, but they give shape to the general employment of 

 men. Sheep, if kept, will be kept for their flesh ; cattle will be fattened for the market ; gar- 

 den vegetables will require the attention of many ; in fine, farmers will be employed, in the 

 vicinity of large towns, in producing the immediate necessaries of life, in supplying the daily 

 wants of those who are engaged in commerce, mercantile and mechanical pursuits. Under the 

 control of such circumstances a varied husbandry will force itself upon the attention of pro- 

 ducers. At a distance from the bustling scenes of a city and the busy haunts of men, th,e farmer 

 is free in his choice of subjects of culture. It is there he may turn his whole attention to wheat 

 or maize, sheep or cows, horses or oxen. But is there encouragement to confine his attention 

 to one subject 1 There is this in favor of it, he soon learns to do this one thing excedingly well. 

 Experience guides him in rearing sheep, cattle or horses, in raising meat or clothing. On the one 

 side, he has but one thing for market, and it may be glutted ; on the other, again, if the market 

 is glutted with one kind of produce, he has another which he may try, and another still, if the 

 second fails. Buckwheat, oats, Indian corn, potatoes and fruit, may all be sent to market, and 

 it would be very strange if one or more did not return itself upon the owner with profit. There 

 is another consideration, too ; the soil of most estates has a variability which favors a varied hus- 

 bandry, and hence, in order that the farmer may turn his patrimony to the best account, and 

 make it tell the highest figures, he must take advantage of the qualities of his soil. 



