272 



Dialogue between a Father and Son. 



Vol. IV. 



ber, wliich is often mere rubbish. So far our 

 first rule of the " new-school," namely, to 

 possess no more land than you can properly 

 cultivate. The second rule is, never to go 

 out of the reach of society and good markets, 

 two things of incalculable weight and im- 

 portance. I have many friends who have 

 gone and buried themselves, their families, 

 and their talents, not in a napkin, but in a 

 desert, because they were determined to get 

 cheap land, without considering that in these 

 places produce is cheap likewise. Poor Joe 

 B. who went some time since to Michigan 

 Territory to farm, because there, every thing 

 is so cheap — beef, three and a half cents per 

 pound — butter, eight cents per pound — wheat, 

 fifty cents per bushel — mutton, dog cheap, 

 and wood for cutting ! before this, Joe has 

 found his wits, if he has not lost them. Al- 

 ways remember, 



The worth of a thing 



Is as much as 'twill bring, 



and no more ; and if land sells for a dollar 

 an acre, 'tis a clear proof that it is worth no 

 more, else it would bring it. I calculate, that 

 land very near a good market is worth, to an 

 intelligent and industrious man, many times 

 the mere rent, on the simple account that the 

 farmer need be but little from home. I de- 

 clare I have known the time when I would 

 not leave home a day for a quarter's rent ; 

 and then only calculate the value of the time 

 spent in travelling by night and by day, a 

 distance of perhaps seventeen or twenty 

 miles to market, to say nothing of the ex- 

 treme irksomeness, pain and suffering attend- 

 ant upon such a pilgrimage, exposed to the 

 vicissitudes of the seasons — heat and cold, 

 and rain and wind ! Oh ! it is sickening to 

 think what a great portion of such a man's 

 life is thus disposed of 



Frank. — Well then, as we are, you know, 

 farming upon paper, we can fix our farm 

 just where we choose ; it will be in no one's 

 way: now, how near a good market would 

 you like it to be 7 



Father. — Say six miles — an easy hour 

 from market. And now, as we find we can 

 do pretty much as we like, what do you say 

 to the following mode of farming one hundred 

 acres of land, so as to make the most of it, 

 and at the same time not to make a toil of a 

 pleasure. We will suppose that we have 

 erected upon our middle compartment; Ist, a 

 comfortable dwelling house, with dairy, &c. 

 attached ; garden, orchard, &c. 2nd, A good 

 barn. .3rd, Warm stables. 4th, Cow sheds. 

 5th, Sheds for young stock. 6t,h, Fattening 

 sheds for sheep, 7th, Fattening stalls for oxen. 

 8th, Hog sties. 9th, Granary and tool house. 

 10th, Cart and implement shed, and plenty 

 of yard room. Now, as I should be deeirous 



of going gently forward, and as, after all this, 

 our means might be slender you know, I 

 would propose to cultivate at first the four 

 fields of eight acres only : top-dressing with 

 lime or compost the four fields of sixteen 

 acres at our leisure, feeding and mowing 

 them alternately. And if by tip-top manage- 

 ment we could raise, on the first of these 

 eight acre fields, three hundred and twenty 

 tons of sugar beets — forty tons per acre — on 

 the second field, a crop of oats four feet high, 

 which, if threshed, would yield sixty bushels 

 per acre; in all, four hundred and twenty 

 bushels. On the third field thirty tons of 

 clover hay at two cuttings ; and on the fourth, 

 eight loads, of forty bushels each of threshed 

 wheat, with plenty of straw for the bedding 

 of horses and cattle of all kinds, would you 

 not think we had done well 1 



Frank. — Well 1 ah, but then — 'tis only on 

 paper you know. 



Father. — True — but " nothing is impossi- 

 ble to a willing mind," you know, such crops 

 have absolutely been obtained, and " what 

 man has done, man may do." And as our 

 exertions would be so concentrated, and we 

 should be called so seldom from home, I 

 should not despair of doing likewise ; and I 

 would not willingly go for less than the 

 whole hog ! Now, as the stock would graze 

 during the summer the four fields of sixteen 

 acres each, except that part which might be 

 set apart for mowing hay, we should be able 

 to reserve the whole of the crops of the four 

 cultivated fields for winter use — an enormous 

 mass of food, and yet grown on a very small 

 quantity of land. 



So, you see, the only crop we should have 

 to take to market, would be the threshed 

 wheat — the most saleable of all the crops, 

 requiring only to be delivered at the mill. 



Frank. — Well, this would be simplifying 

 the system, truly. 



Father. — Yes, but I should not doubt of 

 perfect success in this "new system of farm- 

 ing," tor the feeding of such a quantity of 

 winter food, would produce manure sufl^cient 

 to make the land as rich as a cucumber bed, 

 as the saying is ; for I should propose to ex- 

 pend it all on the beet and clover crops, six- 

 teen acres only; thus, the oats would have 

 none, for they would not require any ; nor 

 the wheat, which would be injured by it; 

 and thus our system would be perfect, accord- 

 ing to the rules of modern husbandry, name- 

 ly, " two grain crops not to follow in succes- 

 sion, and the manure to be applied, solely for 

 the production of food for the cattle," — the 

 two golden rules of the " new-school." The 

 produce of such a farm in the shape of beef, 

 mutton, veal, lamb, and butter, would be con- 

 tained in small compass, and be marketed 

 with little expense and labour, time and trou- 



