MY FARM OF EDGEWOOD 



Transportation to market was small ; the de- 

 mand constant; the thorough tillage which 

 the condition of the soil required, was en- 

 couraged ; an accumulation of fertilizing mate- 

 rial secured. 



The near vicinity of a town suggests also to 

 a good husbandman, the growth of those per- 

 ishable products which will not bear distant 

 transportation, such as the summer fruits and 

 vegetables. These demand also a thorough 

 system of tillage, and a light friable soil is, of 

 all others, best adapted to their successful cul- 

 ture. But on the other hand, they do not in 

 themselves furnish the means of recuperating 

 lands which have suffered from injudicious 

 overcropping. Their cultivation, unless upon 

 fields which are already in a high state of tilth, 

 involves a large outlay for fertilizing materials 

 and for labor — which at certain seasons must 

 be at absolute command. 



In view of these considerations, which I 

 commend to the attention and to the criticism 

 of the Agricultural Journals, I determined 

 that I would have my herd of milch cows, and 

 commence professional life as milkman ; keep- 

 ing, however, the small fruits and the vege- 

 tables in reserve, against the time when the 

 land by an effective recuperative system, should 



80 



