128 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



eary fixtures have alioffelher amounted to a sum 

 on which the products can pay nothing. This, 

 llierelbre, inuii necessarily be a luciiig concern. 



Besides, these overgrown estates require every 

 thing on a corresponding scale. The house, the 

 stables, the garden, the pleasure grounds, the 

 dinings must all be lurge. But iliee-e large things 

 cannot be called into exisience lor nothing ; nor 

 can they be continued lor nothing. L;uge estab- 

 hshmenis always demand large expenditures. 

 Whilst iherelore the income is large, the outgo is 

 Blill larger. And hence it is that these great es- 

 tates have often changed hands in less than three 

 generations. 



Another great error into which many faimers 

 fall IS, that tiiey undertake more than they can 

 accomplish. They plant more than they can cul- 

 tivate. T'he conse(iuence is, that the ground be- 

 ing badly prepared, and the culture delt^ciive, the 

 crop mu.st necessarily be a poor one. 1 have no 

 doubt that the same manure and less than hall 

 the labor, expended on a lew acres, would often 

 produce more than the whole farm, cultivated as 

 it now is. 



Connected wiih this I will mention, that rnany 

 farmers keep more servants and more stock than 

 they can employ in a profitable way. The mas- 

 ter must have his body servant to brush his coat, 

 and his groom to saddle his horse ; and the mis- 

 tress must have her maid to do up her caps, and 

 her house-keeper to carry her keys ; and then, 

 jointly, they must have their carriage-driver, and 

 Ibotman, and butler, and dining-room servant, and 

 nurse lor every child, and laundresses, and meat- 

 cooks, and pastry cooks, and scullions, and head 

 gardener, and under gardener, and I know not 

 liovv many domestics besides, and ali these with 

 one or more apprentices under them. Then there 

 must be the saddle horses, and carriage horses, 

 and the bob-tail ponies for young master and young 

 mistress to ride. Now all ttiis looks very well on 

 pap(!r ; but the question is, who can support it? 

 Or if things do not proceed to the extreme stated 

 above, it is a well-known fact, that farmers do ge- 

 nerally keep more servants, and more horses, and 

 more dogs, and other mere matters of pleasure, 

 than they have any use for. 



Now I had observed these and other kindred 

 faults, and, when I became a farmer, I determined 

 to avoid them ; and reared as I was to habits of 

 labor and economy, I Ibund no great difficulty in 

 doing so. My first purchase was therefore a very 

 small one. I bought just so^imuch land as I 

 thought, with my means, I could bring speedily 

 into profitable cultivation. The capital so far in- 

 vested was a small one ; nor did it require any 

 great outlay in ditching, inclosing, manuring, la- 

 bor, and every thing else necessary to use. I how- 

 ever made a great many mistakes, which subse- 

 quent experience enabled me to correct. One I will 

 mention. In preparing for my little corn crop, I ap- 

 plied my manure in the drill, and not broadcast. 

 This will do where (he crop is corn, and corn alone, 

 but will not do when it is to be followed by subse- 

 quent crops. I saw my mistake, and never after- 

 wards repealed it. This plan of spreading a little 

 manure or a little labor over a large surface cannot 

 be too strongly reprehended. It is mere waste ; 

 whereas, if it be confined to proper limits, we at 

 once derive the benefits of it. 



1 ought to mention, that at the time alluded to 



above, I was engaged in other business in town. 

 This I regarded as my main pursuit, whilst the 

 larm was resorted to for amusement. I had fan- 

 cied to myself, that after spending a sultry day in 

 town, it would be very pleasant to resort to my 

 country establishment in the afternoon, and there 

 regale my senses with the beautiful fields and fra- 

 grant flowers. But I soon found that a farm, even 

 a small one. will not suffer itself to be treated aa 

 a plaything. Do what you will, it will maintain 

 its solid importance — it will Jill ynur pocket or 

 empty it. 



1 must also mention, (hat (he interest which I 

 took in my larm was of a constantly increasing 

 character. In lact, it soon took such a strong hold 

 upon my thoughts and aflections, that 1 was ren- 

 dered unfit (or any other pursuit. The other busi- 

 ness, therefore, in which I was engaged, became 

 intolerably irksome. I began it late, and I 

 despatched it as rapidly as possible. 1 was now 

 engaged in two pursuits, the one was a mere 

 drudgery, the other was my delight. It will cre- 

 ate no surprise then when I state, that I soon 

 shook off my town employment, and gave myself 

 wholly to the delights of the farm. Instead of 

 short mornings and afternoons, I now spent whole 

 days in my darlinj; pursuits. 



JBut it would be tedious to detail the various 

 sources of new enjoyment which now presented 

 themselves to me. If I planted a seed, I wished 

 to witness its earliest vegetation ; and if I set out 

 a ehrub or plant, I wished to inhale the first fra- 

 grance of the opening flower. I even thought the 

 shade of my own tree, or the draught of water 

 from my own well, more cooling and refreshing 

 than any other. And I am sure that I never en- 

 joyed the exquisite relish of fruit in all its perfec- 

 tion, until I plucked it from the tree of my own 

 planting. 



But before I quit the subject of these pleasure 

 farms, I think it proper to say a little more about 

 them. The impression, I know, is very general 

 among the good citizens of our towns, that such 

 establishments may be resorted to as places of 

 mere pleasure. They figure to themselves a 

 pretty white cottage, with green window shutters, 

 in the very midst of neatness and beauty itselfl 

 Here are shrubs, and flowers, and odoriferous 

 plants ; and here every thin^ is beautiful and 

 sweet and fragrant. Then this earthly paradise 

 is so located, that a ride or walk of an hour will 

 carry the fortunate proprietor to his business in 

 town. Oh ! how delightful to place wife and 

 children in this beautiful spot during the sultry 

 months of summer? I admit that in one event, 

 and one only, it would be so, and (hat is where a 

 large property has already been acquired, or 

 where the present business is so lucrative as to 

 sustain (he expense. Without this, such a place 

 is a mere moth ; it is a constant and rapid drain 

 upon the former or present earnings. It is (hen 

 the very last thing in which the man of moderate 

 circumstances ought to think of indulging. In 

 fact, I know no instance in which this double 

 business has succeeded. One establishment is 

 invariably a drain upon the other. 



But whilst I say this, my experience warrants 

 me in adding, that the man of industrious and 

 persevering habits, may so succeed on hia small 

 farm, as to justify him in giving up his (own busi- 

 ness. Accordingly, when 1 was drawn to the 



