310 



Practical Farming. 



Vol. VI. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Practical Farming. 



Under a conviction that mnch of the bene- 

 fit that might otherwise have been derived by 

 individuals from statements published in the 

 Cabinet and other very valuable publications 

 devoted to agriculture, has been lessened, by 

 holding up farming as the most profitable bu- 

 siness a man could embark in — more espe- 

 cially when something new is brought for- 

 ward — I am induced to offer some views 

 thereon ; as I have known instances in which 

 individuals have suffered loss and disappoint- 

 ment therefrom. This must eventually prove 

 an injury to the good cause which it was in- 

 tended to promote. One person plants a few 

 rods of land with ruta-baga, another with 

 beets, another with lucerne, &c., and if very 

 successful, publishes the result; and the in- 

 ference is drawn, that if so many rods will 

 produce so much an acre, ten acres will pro- 

 duce in the same proportion ; and so with the 

 value annexed; which goes to show, what a 

 large sum might be realized from a farm of 

 one hundred acres or more ! Hence, many 

 persons, who are prone to unsettlement in 

 business (and there are quite too many of 

 that description amongst us), determine to 

 try their fortune at farming ; but soon become 

 convinced that, however A may have suc- 

 ceeded under favourable circumstances with 

 a few rods of ruta-baga, or B with the like 

 quantity of beets, with them upon a large 

 scale it has sometimes proved a failure. This, 

 I think, generally proves to be the case; but 

 if, perchance, successful in quantity, the price 

 will not defray the expense their inexperi- 

 ence has subjected them to. Some, perhaps, 

 may suppose the writer to be one of those 

 who have been thus disappointed ; but such 

 is not the fact : he has followed the occupa- 

 tion of a farmer for many years, and expects 

 to continue in that calling so long as it shall 

 please an allvvise Providence to favour him 

 with the ability to do so; believing it to be 

 the most useful business that can be followed, 

 although not the most lucrative; yet, when 

 conducted on proper principles, it may be 

 made sufficiently so for all the necessary en- 

 joyments of life. But in order to make it so, 

 farmers must start fair, be willing to live in 

 a plain, frugal (I do not mean parsimonious) 

 manner, which is the alone safe way fi)r all. 

 If he must have a large and costly-furnished 

 house, fine carriage and many dependants — 

 making what is termed a splendid establish- 

 ment to start upon — he may rest assured, 

 that unless he has other resources than his 

 farm, although it may be a good one and paid 

 for, he will find himself dependent ere long. 



I would by no meansdiscourageany one from 

 publishing the result of his experience and 



observation; nay, I think it almost a duty 

 which we owe each other ; and that, too, after 

 his own manner, seeing there is such a laud- 

 able desire for information abroad, and so 

 many channels through which it can be made 

 public. And when comments are made upoo 

 it, let it be done in a proper spirit, having 

 reference to the matter, not the manner — 

 considering, that many of us who are pretty 

 well advanced in life, had but very limited 

 opportunities to acquire learning, as compared 

 to later and present times ; yet our experience 

 and observation may have taught us some 

 things, which it would not harm those of 

 more learning to know. In the last Cabinet 

 but one, there was an article on the compara- 

 tive merits of ruta-baga, corn, hay and oats, 

 as feed for horses, in which the saving by 

 the use of ruta-baga and straw, is made to 

 appear very great. I have never tried that 

 plan, but if horses will keep well for a length 

 of time, and perform daily hard work on ruta- 

 baga, it is of vast importance that it should 

 be generally known. I am well assured, that 

 mine would not so keep and perform the work 

 they do, " on the value of a bushel of corn or 

 straw and meal for a week." His estimate 

 of hay is higher than I find mine to eat, al- 

 though kept up (when not in service) all the 

 year, and allowed as much good hay as they 

 will eat. If, on further experiments by the 

 writer of the article and others, it should be 

 fully established, it will prove an incalculable 

 benefit to agriculturists, and eventually, the 

 public at large: for if by it half an acre will 

 sustain a horse as well as six acres by the 

 present generally adopted practice, the sav- 

 ing throughout the state would be immense; 

 sufficient, I should suppose, to pay all our 

 taxes, if not, eventually, the debt of the state. 

 In the last Cabinet, which is, I think, the 

 most valuable one I have read for a consider- 

 able time, there is much said, and profitably 

 so, I think, on lime, its qualities and proper- 

 ties. Can any of the correspondents of the 

 Cabinet inform what proportion of magnesia 

 there is in the lime known as Sandy-Run 

 lime, in the neighbourhood of Filzwater-town, 

 Upper Dublin, Montgomery County; and 

 which of the quarries in that neighbourhood 

 contains the least of that article] If they 

 can, I think they would confer an obligation 

 on many farmers who use much of said lime 

 on their land; for one, I should esteem it a 

 great favour. Is there no simple method by 

 which farmers might test its properties for 

 themselves? As it regards the quantity to 

 be used per acre, I think it must ever be left 

 to the judgment and experience of the farmer, 

 he being acquainted with the qualities of the 

 lime and of his soil. On part of my farm, I 

 think twenty-five bushels of the lime afore- 

 mentioned would be quite as much as it 



