TAKING REINS IN HAND 



ling coyly below, I see in it all a modest prom- 

 ise to me — repeated in every shower — of the 

 golden ears that shall by and by stand blazing 

 in the October sunshine. 



But all this only answers negatively my 

 question of — What to do with the Farm? 



At least, it shall not be handed over abso- 

 lutely to the control of a manager, no matter 

 what good character he may bring; and I will 

 aim at a system of cropping, which shall make 

 some measurable return for the cost of pro- 

 duction. * 



DAIRYING 



Any judicious farm-system must be governed 

 in a large degree by the character of the soil, 

 and by the nearest available market. It is 

 not easy to create a demand for what is not 

 wanted; nor is it much easier so to transmute 

 soils by culture or by dressings, as to produce 

 profitably those crops to which the soils do 

 not naturally incline. I am fully aware that 

 in saying this, I shall start an angry buzz 

 about my ears, of those progressive agricul- 

 turists, who allege that skilful tillage will en- 

 able a man to produce any crop he chooses : I 

 am perfectly aware that Tull, who was the 

 great farm reformer of his day, ridiculed with 



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