296 HANDY-BOOK OF HUSBANDRY. 



*■' In fact, the stock is a necessity to the grain farmer in the 

 " winter. Before the grain-raisers of centiial and western New 

 " York understood this thing, the straw from their grain was a 

 *' great incumbrance, and much of it was burned up immediately 

 " after the grain was thrashed, in the fields where it grew. 



" To sum this matter up, a proper farm stock, over and above 

 " the teams, cows, etc., necessary to meet the wants of the farm, 

 '' can be supported on a grain farm with very little cost, except 

 " the care and attention required. 



" It may be said that the straw, corn-stalks, etc., might be sold 

 " for money. Near large towns this may be true, but it is not 

 *' true away from such markets. But it should not be sold off the 

 " farm unless the owner of the farm intends to sell the soil within 

 *' a few years. The barn-yard manure made by cattle and sheep, 

 " by trampling this coarse forage under foot, is an important 

 *' matter in that system that looks to making a farm self-sustaining 

 "and self-improving. 



" A well-managed grain farm should sell grain, clover-seed, 

 " meat, wool, cheese, and butter — but not hay, corn-stalks, or 

 "straw, until it has become so fertile by its own self-sustaining 

 " and creative powers, that too much straw is produced in the 

 *' grain crops. Then, perhaps, it will do to sell a little hay — 

 *' when it brings a large price. 



" Such persons as have done me the honor of reading my com- 

 " munications lately published in T'he Tribune^ will have learned 

 *' that I believe in a farm sustaining itself, and that with very 

 " little aid from outside, it should be,' by judicious cultivation, 

 " carried to the very highest point of production that the climate 

 "will allow. I fully recognize the inherent differences in soils, 

 "and their adaptability to special crops, and I do not say that the 

 " exact methods I have pointed out are applicable everywhere. 

 " But I have no sympathy whatever with that school of writers 

 " who appear to think that the world is going to ruin by reason 

 "of the deterioration of the farming lands. 



" There is a period in new countries in which bad farming is 

 *' almost universal j then comes the necessity of reform, and 



