82 



THE FARMZllS CABINET. 



VOL. 1. 



is perhaps the best under stratum to make 

 the land prolific. 



The best loams, and natural earths are of 

 a bright brown, or hazely color. Hence, 

 they are called hazel loams. They cui 

 smooth and tolerably easy, without clmging 

 to the spade or ploughshare ; are light, fri- 

 able, and fall into small clods, without chap- 

 ping or cracking m dry weather, or turning 

 into mortar when wet. Dark grey, and 

 russet mould, are accounted the next best. 

 The worst of all, are the light and dark ash- 

 colored. The goodness of land may also be 

 very well judged of by the smell and the 

 touch." The best emits a fresh pleasant 

 scent on being dug or ploughed up, especially 

 after rain; and being a just proportion of sand 

 and clay intimately blended, will not stick 

 much to the fingers on handling. But all 

 soils, however good, may be impoverished, 

 and even worn out by successive crops with- 

 out rest, especially if the ploughings are not 

 very frequently repeated before the seed is 

 sown. 



If we examine tracts of land which have 

 not been cultivated, we find nature has 

 adapted different kinds of plants to most of 

 the distinguishable varieties of soils; and 

 although some belonging to one, may from 

 some cause or other, be found on lands of a 

 different quality, they seldom thrive, or per- 

 fect their seeds, so as to become general. 

 The great care of the farmer ought, therefore, 

 to be, by proper mixtures, to reduce his land 

 to that state and temperament in which the 

 extremes of hot and cold, wet and dry, are 

 best corrected by each other ; to give them 

 every possible advantage flowing from the 

 benign influences of sun and air; to adopt 

 such kinds of plants as they afford in this 

 state the greatest nourishment to; and to re^ 

 new their fertility by a judicious allowance 

 of the most proper manures. Where these 

 things are done, there are few spots so un- 

 friendly to cultivation as not to repay his 

 expense and labor with a plentiful increase. 

 But without these, the best tracts of land will 



in time become a barren waste, or produce 

 little but weeds. 



} quarter, arc not numerous when reference is 

 had to the quality of the land under actual 

 cultivation. — This is no doubt true, if we 

 I compare this with other sections of our coun- 

 I try, but still the same amount of labor be- 



Siiaall Farms. 



The following judicious and well-timed 

 article, appeared originally in the Maine 

 Farmer, published at VVinthrop, under the 

 editorial direction of E. Holmes, Estj. The 

 position assumed by the writer is well sup- 

 ported by botli facts and agruments, which, 

 if duly considered, may tend to contribute 

 many advantages to our present system of 

 rural economy. It may be urged, says the 

 editor of a public journal in one of the central 

 countiee of lliis state, tliat large farms in this 



stowed upon a less amount of land might 

 produce results equally, if not more, satis- 

 factory to the farmer, than the method now 

 .generally pursued. As the land in this de- 

 lightful mountain region, produces a variety 

 i of grasses, in such rich abundance, the farm- 

 lers might find, in this consideration alone, 

 ample reason for reducing to practice the 

 plausible theory recommended in the article 

 to which we would draw their attention. 

 Men in general perform hard labor with too 

 much reluctance to authorise the belief, that 

 they would prefer labor for its own sake, 

 without a due regard to the hcnefits they ex- 

 ipect to derive from their toil. The view 

 taken of the subject in the production we 

 publish, may serve to satisfy many an unde- 

 cided mind, that in the interior of Pennsyl- 

 vania, farmers can live as well and become 

 as rich, as those who may scatter their fami- 

 lies, by removing to the " far West." 



" There is a great mistake among farmers. 

 And it is, they covet too much land. Almost 

 all our farms are from four to ten times too 

 large. A farmer never feels that he has got 

 enough. He adds field to field, does not 

 half subdue or manure what he has got, and 

 still wants more. One of the most produc- 

 tive and profitable farms I ever saw, con- 

 tained but fourteen acres. — It was very much 

 subdued, and improved, and manured ; and 

 the owner was what was called a very thrifty, 

 if not a rich man, while his neighbor wlio 

 skims over three hundred acres, and works 

 full as hard, grows poor. By proper man- 

 agement, I am satisfied every acre of land 

 which is fit to raise corn upon, can be made 

 to yield one hundred bushels to the acre. Is 

 it not better to put the manure and care and 

 labor upon it and raise one hundred bushels, 

 than to spread the same over four acres, and 

 thus drive away three or four of your sons to 

 jthe west ] As things now are, what is the 

 process? I will tell you. A man owns one 

 of our large farms. It is paid for. He raises 

 jup a large family. The girls are married 

 off, and he gives each one her portion. He 

 himself, and his farm falls to his five sons. 

 One of these five sons takes the farm and 

 agrees to pay the other sons their shares. 



Tiiey go off to the west and return no more. 

 He undertakes, by economy and industry, to 

 keep and send a fourth of its value to the 

 west. By and by he finds ho cannot doit as 

 fast as he agreed to do it. • He gees to the 

 Life Insurance Company, or somewhere else, 

 mortgages his farm, and starts anew to pay 

 for it. All his life he toils, pays interest. 



