WHAT TO DO WITH THE FARM. 9 



respectful distance. Thej can neither put up such fences and 

 farm buildings, nor go so largely into drainage and irrigation ; 

 nor purchase such costly fertilizers ; nor own such expensive 

 horses, cattle and sheep. Nevertheless, they can see the impor- 

 tance of concentrating expenses and labor on a smaller extent 

 of land, and in a smaller number of animals. If the same 

 amount of manure and labor will give as much profit on one 

 acre as if spread over two acres, leaving the one acre in better 

 heart, and the two acres more exhausted than when they were 

 taken in hand, then it is manifestly advisable to work half the 

 number of acres in the superior manner ; for, in a few years, 

 both the amount of the products and the value of the land would 

 be greatly enhanced. If a man can secure greater returns of 

 cash from an acre of vineyard than from eight acres of corn or 

 potatoes, then the cultivation of the single acre is better than 

 that of the larger number. If the same amount of money 

 expended in five sheep of a particular breed, will give more 

 wool and much better mutton, than if invested in ten of the 

 ordinary lean, thin-woolled, long-legged fence-jumperS; better for 

 his pockets and for the dispositions of his neighbors to purchase 

 the five. If a few good cattle, of superior breed and qualities, 

 will furnish more milk and butter or more and better beef than 

 twice their number of " the common run," and if their increase 

 is worth more at three months old, than the progeny of the 

 latter at six months or a year old, then the profits to say noth- 

 ing of the satisfaction enjoyed by the proprietor would indicate 

 the desirableness of having the better breed of animals. 



There are men in Florida whose herds of cattle are numbered 

 by the thousand, and one proprietor, about fifty miles south of 

 Jacksonville, is said to own about forty thousand. But the 

 animals, like all those of that region, are poor little starvelings, 

 scarcely equal to respectable goats ; and it is said a dozen of 

 them give not much more than a gallon of milk. Tliis is worse 

 than anything in New England ; but we might find, in our own 

 Commonwealth, perhaps, examples as little deserving of com- 

 mendation. Concentration of capital in animals is evidently as 

 wise as the concentration of expense in the cultivation of a few 

 acres well, rather than spreading it over many acres. The 

 advice of Virgil — " Praise large farms but cultivate a small 



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