NO. IS. 



TUB ITARMERS CARINET. 



203 



means. Then, if unimproved, his improve- 

 ments must progress very slowly, and will be 

 at least iiiipcrl'ect, if not very inferior. Hi:? 

 grounds partially cleared, iiis enclosures in- 

 secure, his uarns and stublcs (if perchiincehe 

 liave any at all) mere temporary sheds, and 

 his own dwelling, a poor, contracted, uncom- 

 fortable cabin ; and all this for the salce of 

 haviiicf a large farm. Uul the mischief ends 

 not here; it is perhaps still more injuriously 

 manifest in the cultivation. A lar;^e farm 

 requires large fields and crops. Accordingly, 

 you see a field set apart for corn, of the con- 

 tents of one hundred acres. But the defi- 

 ciency of means will not admit of thoroughly 

 breaking with the plough, perhaps not at all, 

 and the poor substitute of furrowing out, as 

 some call it, is resorted to. The after cul- 

 ture of the crop is in keeping with the com- 

 mencement, and nature would not be true to 

 herself if she did not give such a harvest as 

 such culture deserves. What there is, lies 

 neglected in the field, or unhoused at some 

 other point, until unruly animals, allured by 

 bad fences, claim a large tlihc of the product, 

 or till the storms of winter destroy a large 

 portion of the summer's labor. Now sup- 

 pose this whole busiuess put upon a smaller 

 scale, and graduated by the means of the 

 proprietor: suppose the quantity of ground 

 tilled twenty, instead of one hundred acres. 

 This well broke, and ploughed and hoed, 

 and weeded in after culture, timely gathered 

 and well secured, the profitwould have been 

 probably a hundred per cent, better. 



Besides all this, it is only where farming 

 is carried on on a smaller scale, generally, thai 

 you witness that universal neatness and taste 

 and finish which throw around the whole 

 scene a sort of rural enchantment, which at- 

 tracts and impresses every beholder. And 

 the thing is most easily accounted for. The 

 whole is under the farmer's own eye, and 

 within his own means, and wrought chiefly 

 if not exclusively by his own hands and 

 those of his healthy sons. He seeks not to 

 be proprietor of an agricultural empire, in 

 extent, but to create an agricultural paradise 

 of concentrated attractions and beauties. 



It is to the small farms in every country 

 that you are to look generally for the best 

 models, the finest taste, the most pleasure, 

 and the largest profits upon the investment. 



I am confident that fifty acres, cultivated 

 in the very best style of modern improve- 

 ments, would yield more profit than many 

 of your five hundred acre farms now yield. 



It is an excellent rule, never to take in 

 hand more ground than you can cultivate 

 in the best manner; for be assured, that if 

 you calculate to make up the defects of cul- 

 ture by increasing the quantity of ground 

 thus defectively cultivated, you will find 

 yonrself greatly in error. 



From the Cultivator. 



Ss'stcmatic Fariiiiiij^— IJiidcr- 

 Draiiiiiig— Riita Baga. 



" The short time I have been engaged in 

 agricultural pursuits, and the little practical 

 knowledge 1 have obtained, will necessarily 

 render any communication from me at this 

 time, comparatively of little interest — yet 

 such as 1 can give, is at your service. My 

 farm contains 400 acres of upland, and con- 

 sists of several varieties of soil, but mostly 

 a deep gravelly loam, upon a very tenacious 

 clayey sub-soil. I came in possession of this 

 farm, and first turned my attention to agricul- 

 ture, in the spring of IfioS. None of the land 

 had been half tilled, and some of it had beer 

 cropped so long without being manured, thai 

 nature had rebelled against the thankless 

 task-master, and refused to produce any thinj 

 worth the husbandman's notice. I com' 

 menced a thorough and uniform system oi 

 improvement, by ditching, seeding, and ma^ 

 nuring, — dispensing my favors with an un 

 sparing hand, and without other regard t( 

 the expense, than noting the amount in mj 

 journal. The consequence has been, I havt 

 brought lands that did not produce enougl 

 to pay the expense of cultivation, to a stat( 

 of beauty and fertility, and obtained a ricl 

 reward for my labor. And what is worth] 

 the attention of those farmers, who say the] 

 cannot afford the expense of improving thei: 

 lands, is this fact, that the increased produc 

 of a single year has more than paid the whoh 

 cost. As a specimen, I will give an accoun 

 of a lot of fourteen acres, which had beei 

 mowed successively for near thirty years 

 and the year before it came into my posses 

 sion, cut but six tons. One third of the fieh 

 was too wet to grow any thing but swam] 

 grass, and its improvement was mainb 

 brought about by the under-draining. 



My account with this lot for the yeari 

 1835-6, stands thus. 



Dr. 



Lot No. 3 — 1 -1 acres. 



S300 OU 

 1S33, Marcli J7— 50 



loads manure a lis. 18 75 



Crass si'cd, 2 .10 



.\n!;. 2— U'ttincliay, .-i? 5i) 



interest on land, 40 I'l' 



To balance, 313 25 



8451 00 



18^5, .Inly 20—10 tons prett; 

 good hay a §10, $300 



Profit, 31 



183G, Aug. 2—3.' tons 

 superior iiny a §12, ■iCO Oi 



$151 



Profit, 



343 S, 



