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THE GENESEE FARMER. 



Feb. 



"LABOR WELL APPLIED IS PRODUCTIVE OF PROFIT." 

 BY AGRICOLA. 



Farmers should ever bear in mind that "well 

 directed labor" will ensure its reward. Of all classes 

 of men, there is none upon whom this truth needs to 

 be enforced more than the farmer. How many -of 

 our farmers are year after year toiling on, over- 

 whelmed with their business on an immense estate, 

 and at the close of the year the accounts are about 

 balanced, and again the same toil and vexation must 

 be renewed. If right directed effort had been put 

 forth, no more land farmed than could be done to per- 

 fection, what a saving of labor, what an increase of 

 profit, what a reward in every point of view, would 

 be received ! In traveling through the best farming 

 districts of this State, we often find illustrations of 

 this truth most striking. 



I have in my eye a farm of medium size, which, a 

 few years since, was any thing but neat and in order, 

 and which gave sad indications that labor had not 

 been " well applied." But a change has come over 

 •this scene. A new occupant takes possession, fixed 

 in his principles — determined that he would carry 

 out this great maxim, on which depends the prosper- 

 ity and success of the farmer, that " What is worth 

 doing, is worth doing well." Now how soon the 

 farm begins to assume a new appearance. The fences 

 are repaired, the land is drained where needed, the 

 buildings are neatly repaired and arranged ; manures 

 are obtained best suited to the soil and crops which 

 are adapted to this region ; a new and improved stock 

 of cattle, sheep and swine are secured, and in short 

 every thing characteristic of the good farmer appears 

 year after year, under the direction of him who knows 

 how to apply labor. Instead of having, at the end 

 .of the year, to resort to loans to make up deficiencies, 

 this same farm yields a return that gladdens the heart 

 of the farmer. As years roll on, each succeeding 

 one finds a larger balance in favor of well directed 

 labor ; and now, in addition to the ordinary append- 

 ages of a farm, there is reared, out of the profits of 

 this well regulated concern, a neat and tasty cottage, 

 in the midst of shrubbery the most tasty and luxuri- 

 ant — all the work of him who started with the deter- 

 mination to do all things well. And this is not all, 

 as the well regulated expense book is balanced ; a 

 profit which would gladden even the hearts of some 

 of our bankers on the capital invested, is found on 

 hand, to be applied as may best conduce to the com- 

 fort and welfare of an interesting family. There is 

 no complaint of means to educate the children. They 

 are brought up practically to appreciate the maxim 

 that, " What is worth doing, is worth doing well," 

 and their education prepares them to carry out in all 

 the varied scenes of life this all important but too 

 little practiced truth. 



Let me then urge upon the farmers who read this 

 paper, — and I am glad to know they are many, and 

 among the most intelligent in our land, — to put in 

 practice, if they have not already done so, this simple 

 but effectual method of farm labor, which brings with 

 it the most abundant reward, and without which they 

 will in vain struggle on, never securing the end of 

 their toil. Order is Heaven's first law — and let it 

 be yours in every thing relating to your farm. — 

 Remember you belong to a noble profession, and one 

 that is destined to exert a mighty influence on the 

 destinies of a world. As one man, then, let the 

 American Farmers adopt as their motto, ".111 things 

 relating to my farm shall be well done'' — and no more 



should be undertaken than can be thus done — and 

 soon he will be found to occupy that exalted position 

 that will cause his influence to be felt the world over. 

 Surely it can not be necessary to urge upon the 

 enlightened, the intelligent, the hard working Amer- 

 ican Farmer, further considerations in support of a 

 principle that must, on a moment's reflection, commend 

 itself to every right-minded, reflecting man. 



In the London Gardener's Chronicle I find the fol- 

 lowing anecdote which the celebrated Robert Bake- 

 well used frequently to relate — he whose name is 

 familiar to almost every one for his extraordinary 

 success in breeding cattle and sheep, and to whom 

 probably Great Britain as well as this country owes 

 as much as to any one individual, for that system of 

 breeding which has secured the choice breeds of ani- 

 mals which are now to be found. It is to our purpose 

 as it gives the history of an old farmer, and one of 

 olden times too, who was renewed by adopting the 

 principle laid down as the heading of our article — 

 " Labor well applied is productive of profit." 



Mr. Bakewell said : " A farmer who owned and 

 occupied 1000 acres of land, had three daughters. 

 When his eldest daughter married, he gave her one- 

 quarter of his land for her portion, but no money ; 

 and he found, by a little more speed and a little better 

 management, the produce of his farm did not decrease. 

 When his second daughter married, he gave her one- 

 third of the remaining land for her portion, but no 

 money. He then set to work, and began to grub up 

 his furze and fern, and plowed up what he called his 

 poor, dry, furze land, even where the furze covered, 

 in some closes, nearly half the land. After giving 

 half his land away to two of his daughters, to his 

 great surprize he found that the produce increased ; 

 he made more money, because his new broken up 

 furze land brought excessive crops, and at the same 

 time he farmed the whole of his land better, for he 

 employed three times more laborers upon it ; he rose 

 two hours sooner in the morning ; had no more dead 

 fallows once in three years — instead of which he 

 got two green crops in one year, and ate them upon 

 the land. A garden never requires a dead fallow. 

 But the great advantage was, that he had got the 

 same money to manage 500 acres as he had to man- 

 age 1000 acres ; therefore, he laid out double the 

 money upon the land. 



" When his third and last daughter married, he 

 gave her 250 acres, or half that remained, for her 

 portion, and no money. He then found that he had 

 the same money to farm one-quarter of the land as he 

 had at first to farm the whole. He began to ask 

 himself a few questions, and set his wits to work how 

 he was to make as much of 250 as he had done of 

 1000 acres. He then paid off his bailiff", (who 

 weighed 20 stone,) rose with the larks in the long 

 days, and went to bed with the lambs; he got as much 

 more work done for his money ; he made his servants, 

 laborers, and horses move faster ; broke them from 

 their snail's pace ; and found that the eye of the 

 master quickened the pace of the servant. He saw 

 the beginning and ending of every thing ; and to his 

 servants and laborers, instead of saying, " Go and do 

 it," he said to them, "Let us go, my boys, and do it." 

 Between come and go he soon found a great differ- 

 ence. He grubbed up the whole of his furze and his 

 ferns, plowed the whole of his poor grass land up, 

 and converted a great deal of corn into meat for the 

 sake of the manure and preserved his black water 

 (the essence of manure ;) cut his hedges down, which 



