ON FARM MANAGEMENT. 



13 



5. Maintenance of Animals. 



Cattle and sliccp would need hay till fresh 

 pasture, and horses hay, and also a good supply 

 of oats till after harvest. All would be benefited 

 by a liberal feeding of roots, including swine. 

 The amount of all these supplies needed, would 

 be about 



7 tons of hay $42 00 



200 bushels of oats 50 00 



400 " roots 50 00 



Total $142 00 



recapitulation. 



Live stock $870 00 



Implements 437 00 



Seeds 63 00 



Labor 320 00 



Maintenance of Animals 142 00 



Total $1,832 00 



The amount of capital needed the first year, in 

 Btocking and conducting satisfactorily the opera- 

 tions of one hundred acres of improved laud, 

 several items being doubtless omitted. 



If this is a larger sum than the young famier 

 can command, let him purchase only fifty acres, 

 and reserve the rest of the purchase money 

 which would be needed for the 100 acre.s. to 

 commence with on the smaller farm ; and he 

 will scarcely fail to make more, than on a larger, 

 with every part subjected to an imperfect hur- 

 rying, and irregular management. He may cal- 

 culate perha.ps on the returns of his crops in au- 

 tumn, at least to pay his hands. But he must 

 remember that the first year of fanning is at- 

 tended with many expenses -sv'hich do not usually 

 occur aftenvards ; which his crops may not re- 

 pay, besides supporting his family and paying 

 his mechanic's and merchant's bills. The first 

 year must always be regarded with uncertainty ; 

 and it is better to come out at tlie end, on a mod- 

 erately sized farm, well tilled, and in fine order, 

 with money in pocket, than on a larger one, in 

 debt ; and hired hands, a class of men not to be 

 disappointed and who ought not to be, waiting 

 for their pay. There are a far greater number 

 of farmers embarras.sed and crippled by placing 

 their estimates of expenses too low. than of those 

 who swing clear and float freely by a full pre- 

 vious counting of cost. 



Size of Farms. — After what has just been 

 said, the cultivator will perceive in part the ad- 

 vantages of moderately sized i'arms for men in 

 moderate circumstances. The great disadvan- 

 tage of a superficial, skimming culture, is obvi- 

 ous with a moment's attention. Take the com 

 crop as an illustration. There are a great many 

 farmers to my certain knowledge, whose yearly 

 product per acre does not exceed an average of 

 twenty-five bushels. There are other farmers 

 whom I also well know, vv'ho obtain generally 

 not less than sixty bu.shels per acre, and often 

 eighty to ninet3--five. Now ob.serve the differ- 

 ence in the profits of each. The first gets 250 

 bushels from ten acres. In doing this, he has to 

 plow ten acres, han-ow ten acres, mark out ten 

 acres, find seed for ten acres, plant, cultivate, 

 hoe, and cut up ten acres, be.sides paying the in- 

 terest on ten acres, worth fi'om three to five hun- 

 dred dollars. The other farmer gets 250 bush- 

 els fi-om four acres at the farthest; and ho only 

 plo^vB, plants, cultivates, and hoes, to obtain the 

 eame amount, four acres, which from tlicir fine 

 (61) 



tilth and fi-eedom from grass and w^eeds, is much 

 easier done, even for an equal surface. The 

 same reasoning applies throughout the farm. — 

 Be sure then, to cultivate no more than can be 

 done in the best manner, -whether it bo ten, fifty, 

 or five hundred acres. A friend who owned a 

 four hundred acre fanu, told me that lie made 

 less than his next neighbor, who had only seven- 

 ty-five. Let the man who applies a certain 

 amount of labor every year to his farm, reduce 

 its dimensions until that labor accomplishes 

 everything in the very best manner. He will 

 doubtless find that the amount of land will thus 

 become much smaller than he suppo.sed, more so 

 than most would be willing to reduce it -, but on 

 the other hand, the nctt proceeds from it will 

 augment to a greater degree than perhaps could 

 possibly be believed. 



But let me not be misunderstood. Large 

 farms are by no means to bo objected to, pro- 

 vided the ov\aier has capital enough to cultivate 

 every part as well as some of our best small 

 ones are cultivated. 



As an example of what may be obtaiufccl from 

 a small piece of land, the following products of 

 fifty acres are given, and are not more than I 

 have known repeatedly to be taken from good 

 land b}' several thorough farmers : 

 10 acres vpheat, 35 bush, per acre, at $1.00, $350 



5 " com, 90 " " .40, 180 

 2 " potatoes, 300 " " .20, 120 

 1 " ruta-bagaa, 800 " " .10, 60 



6 " wint. apples, 250 " " .25, 375 

 6 " hay^ 2i-ton3 " 6.00 90 



10 " pasture, vcorth 60 



5 " barley, 40 bush. " .40 80 



5 " oats, 50 " " .20 50 



Total products of fifty acres of very fine land, $1,385 

 This aggi'egate yield is not greater than that 

 obtained by some who might be named from a 

 similar quantity of laud. Good lajid could be 

 brought to that state of fertility very easily at a 

 total cost of one hundred dollars per acre, and 

 then it would be incomparably cheaper than 

 many large poor farms at nothing ; for while the 

 fifty "acres could be tilled for three hundred and 

 eighty-five dollars, leaving one thousand dollars 

 nett profits, large poor ianns hardly pay the 

 work spent upon them. One proprietor of such 

 a farm declared — " It takes me and my hired 

 man all summer at hard work to get enough to 

 pay him only." 



Laying OUT Farms. — This department is very 

 much neglected. The proper dispo-sition of the 

 diiFerent fields, for the sake of economy in fenc- 

 ing, for convenience of access, and for a full 

 command of pasture and protection of crops at 

 all time.s, has received comparatively little at- 

 tention from our agricultural writers and from 

 fanners. 



Many suppose that this business is very 

 quickly disposed of; that a very few minutes, 

 or hours at most, ^^•ill enable a man to plan the 

 an-angement of his fields about right. But this 

 is a great eiTor. Even when a fann is of the 

 simplest form, on a flat uniform piece of ground, 

 many things are to be borne in mind in laying it 

 out. " In tile first place, we all know that the 

 fencing of a moderately sized fann costs many 

 "hundred dollars. It is very desirable to do it 

 well, and use at the same time as little material 

 as possible. To do this much will depend on 

 the shajic of the fields. A certain length of 

 fence will enclose more land in the fonn of a 

 .fffuare, than in any other practicable shape. 

 Hence fields should approach this form as nearly 



