1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



177 



Of these three have clothes presses attached. The 

 front windows of this story are double, — two in one. 

 This makes the rooms more valuable, while it gives 

 dignity to the exterior. Many house fronts are 

 spoiled by having too many windows. The wall- 

 veil has no breadth or dignity, and the house be- 

 comes a large lantern. 



The roof is low and has a bold cornice. The 

 back verandah is plain, with solid posts and visible 

 fi-ame-work. There should be a rear building, the 

 roofs joining. In winter, the middle part of the 

 verandah may be enclosed, making an entry to the 

 kitchen and wood-room. 



Its general form makes it suitable for a spot 

 where it may be seen from several points. The 

 lot on which it is to stand, should be open and 

 smooth, rather above than below the grounds about 

 it. Height of each story 9 feet. Cost, $1,200." 



For the New England Farmer. 



RURAL ECONOMY OF THE BRITISH 

 ISLES-No. 5. 



CONSTITUTION OF FARMING A^TD MARKETS. 



In my last, I submitted a few questions respecting 

 the system of agriculture, which would, in time, be 

 adopted in New England, and how for we should 

 copy the English system. I venture to say we 

 shall never ado]it the system of large farms, which 

 is by many considered the distinguishing feature of 

 the English system. Our institutions are opposed 

 to the system of large farming, and sound policy is 

 opposed to it and to its tendency. Whatever the 

 system we adopt, the larmer here will own his farm, 

 and where the laborer owns the soil he tills, the 

 spade digs deeper, the scythe takes a wider sweep, 

 and the muscles Hft a heavier burden. A few rural 

 populations, owning their own farms, is indispensa- 

 ble to the lasting prosperity of a country and to its 

 military strength. England feels now, as Rome 

 felt before her, the evils of the poHcy she has car- 

 ried so far, though not as far as is thought, the 

 conversion of small holdings into large farms — in 

 her inability to fill up her armies. She has driven 

 by the conversion of small farms into large ones, 

 many of her rural population to her cities and oth- 

 er lands, whom she now would fain have in the 

 Crimea ; though perhaps this population is better 

 off, scattered where it is, in other lands and even in 

 cities, than it would be in the Crimea. But the 

 martial pride of England can no longer glory as it 

 once could, in its rural military strength. A just 

 retribution — fruit of an unjust policy. 



Large farming is indeed carried very far in Eng- 

 land, but as we before remarked, not as far as is 

 thought. There are the immense possessions of 

 the nobility ; but there are also the modest domains 

 of the gentry. There are dukes, who own whole 

 counties, but there are 250,000 proprietors of the 

 soil of the United Kingdom ; and two-thirds of the 

 soil is in the possession of wliat may be called sec- 

 ond rate proprietors ; and farms of 200 acres are 

 very common. An erroneous impression prevails, 

 that landed property in iMigland docs not change 

 hands. Hei'e a particular fact has been unduly 

 generalised. Certain lands are under entails, but 

 most are I'ree. 



Just as the concentration of property in England 

 is very much over-rated, so the influence whJt'h 

 large property exercises, in the superiority of its 

 agriculture, is also exaggerated. Large farms usu- 

 ally, though not always, imply capital, that is, 

 means to command labor, manures, tools, farm- 

 buildings, stock, &c., in possession ; but where the 

 owner of a small farm has a proportionate command 

 of these means a small farm will be better cultivated 

 than a large one, and produce more in jn'oportion 

 to its size. Large forms, in England, have general- 

 ly belonged to men or been cultivated by men 

 of large means ; hence their success. In New 

 England, small farms are cultivated by men of 

 small means, and markets near at hand have 

 stimulated this cultivation, hence the state of 

 forming in New England. The Island of Jersey, 

 with its dependencies is a country of small propri- 

 tors ; there is scarcely to be found, in the whole 

 island, a ])roperty of forty acres, many vary from 

 five to fifteen; but yet it is'cuhivated like a garden. 

 The great bane of agriculture, of manufactures, of 

 commerce, of every business is, in fact, debt, and 

 want of means, not debt contracted, to make im- 

 provements, but to hold the property used, and 

 stock it, and carry it on. In fact, there is no dis- 

 tinction between agriculture and manufactures, 

 though it is so often made ; both are processes to 

 produce results useful to man — both are processes 

 to produce results by the aid and co-operations of 

 the powers of nature and by the blessing of God — 

 a beet, a carrot, a potato, an ox, a sheep, grass, are 

 each as much a manufactured article, ])roduced by 

 man, by the use of means and labor and capital, as a 

 piece of cloth, or a plow, or a machine, or any im- 

 plement. God aids, by the powers of nature and 

 the qualities he has imi)arted to created things, as 

 much, in the one case as the other ; and man co- 

 operates with his Maker, in the one case, as well as 

 the other in producing the results, by his thought, 

 his labor, and his capital. A small manufactory of 

 any article, with proper capital and skill, will pro- 

 duce as cheaply and often cheaper than a large one. 

 A small farm, with proper capital and skill, will 

 produce as cheaply and often cheaper than a large 

 one. The products of the farm and of manufactur- 

 ing require markets and will not be jn-oduced un- 

 less there are markets for them. When money is 

 worth three per cent. ])er annum, as in England, 

 there will be better and cheaper farming than with 

 us here, where it is worth seven, and there will be 

 better and cheaper forming, especially on a large 

 scale, where labor is cheap as in England, than 

 with us where it is dear ; there will be better farm- 

 ing, marts population is dense and congregated in 

 the where of commerce, and manufactures largely, 

 than with us, where it is sparse and scattered. The 

 same is true under the circumstances stated of man- 

 ufocturing; in fact, farming partakes of the nature 

 of manufacturing, or is manufacturing and'sul ject to 

 all the laws to which farming is subject. The best 

 constitution of property for agriculture is that which 

 attracts to the soil most capital, either owing to the 

 owners being richer relative to the extent of land 

 they possess, or because they are induced to lay 

 out a larger proportion of their income. I believe 

 that with us, small projn-ietors are most liberal to 

 their lands. Nothing can exceed the implicit con- 

 fidence with which the English farmer makes ad- 

 vances to his land, a matter in which our farmers 

 do not rival him, though they may do so hereafter, 



