56G 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 9 



duce ; and still more, for the want -of the best 

 utensils, machinery &c.., which can only be used 

 on large farms. It is well known that the profits 

 ofall complicated manufactures depend greatly on 

 the extent of the establisiiment : fbrexam))le. that 

 a cotton iactory may be highly profitable if suited 

 to enijiloy 2'JD laborers, and yet ruinous if the 

 works were erected only to employ 20, because 

 many expenses to be incurred must be nearly as 

 heavy in the small, as the large estalilishment. 

 Precisely the same causes of profit and loss are to 

 be Ibund in the extent of the operations onilifler- 

 ent farms. 



Let us suppose the existence of two neighboFinjj 

 farms of the averacre fertility, (or rather I should 

 say, the average poverty,) of lower Virguiia, and 

 similarly situated, except that one is in size 1000 

 acres, and the other only 100, and both cultivated 

 by slaves, in numbers suited to the respective 

 farms. On the first, the owner can afford, (and 

 the expense is for him true economy,) to keep 

 good teams, the best ploughs, and a wagon to con- 

 vey his crops to market. He has sufficient fiirm- 

 liouses, and costly machines of the best construc- 

 tion suited to prepare his crops for market, such 

 as a thrashing machine and limners for wlieat, or 

 a good gin and press for cotton, &c. His income 

 permits his employing an overseer of the best mind 

 and habits that can be obtained. His extensive 

 operations enable him to profit by the division of 

 labor, and thereby improve to the utmost the skill 

 of his laborers, each m his respective department. 

 It is not every man who can learn to be a first 

 rate ploughman, and for even those so gifted, long 

 practice with good implements is indispensible. 

 In the case we are supposing, a few men selected 

 for their qualities from thrice their number, are 

 kept through a large portion of year at ploughing, 

 and have every means to perform perfectly that 

 operation, upon which so much of the success of 

 tillage depends. The same remark applies to ev- 

 ery other operation, for which good or expensive 

 utensils, and much skill in using them, are requir- 

 ed. VVhen accidents or disasters occur, by which 

 the cultivation of a large farmer loses labor, imple- 

 ments, or even expensive fixtures, his income en- 

 ables him to supply the deficienc}', without incur- 

 ring the still greater loss that would probably be 

 caused by delay, or the inability to remedy the 

 evil, tie is not compelled to sell his crops at in- 

 convenient times, or at the lowest prices, but may 

 supply the market according to the demand exist- 

 ing, greatly to the benefit of the public as well as 

 himself Sin)ilar examples might be greatly ex- 

 tended, but these will suffice for the purpose of 

 comparison : and in every such case, an appfca- 

 tion of the same circumstance to the small firmer 

 will make evident tiia unavoidable disadvantages 

 under which he labors. 



If the owner of 100 acres makes wheat, he must 

 prepare it for market by the slow and wasteful pro- 

 cess of treading out by horses, as his crop is not 

 large enough to justify the expense of a thrashing 

 machine ; and if he had one, his laborers would 

 be too few and too unskilful to use it. Implements 

 of less value, and suitable teams, he may (and 

 certainly ouirht to) have ; but the fu't is notorious, 

 that on such a t;u-m, and on many much larger, it 

 IS very imcommon to find either' a good tanner, 

 plough, harrow, or a well matched pair of horses. 

 There can be scarcely any division of labor, nor 



of the skill caused by it, as of the two or three men 

 employed, each has to do something of almost ev- 

 ry operation. From these causes every process 

 will be performed not only imperfectly, but at 

 great loss of labor, arjd perhaps of crop also. If 

 the owner employs an overseer, he must be at the 

 lowest wages, and generally of the most worth- 

 less kind. But the more common course is tor 

 the farmer to be his own overseer — and as there 

 are but few who labor regularly themselves, or 

 who do not withdraw a large portion of the time 

 from the actual superintendence of their slaves, 

 (who only work when compelled,) there will ne- 

 cessarily tbllow the loss of much labor and product 

 to the firmer, and be much consequent diminution 

 of the public wealth. To pursue the parallel, the 

 small farmer loses a horse, or his best slave — and 

 as he has no means of supply itiii the deficient la- 

 bor for a considerable time, to the first loss there 

 is generally added another, equal to a third or half 

 of his growing crop, lor want of the labor so lost. 



The large and the small farm are alike burden- 

 ed by the erection and repairs of a dwelling house, 

 barn, stable, &c. ibr each: and though these 

 buildings will be more costly on the large than on 

 the small farm, still the latter is far more heavily 

 taxed in this way, in proportion to the income or 

 capital. If the total necessary expenditure for 

 buildings on the large farm (lOOi) acres) be 84000, 

 the small one (of 100 acres) will certainly need 

 ^1000, which is more than double a proportional 

 amount. 



Finally — wealth is not always (nor indeed of- 

 ten) accompanied by education, intelligence, and 

 public spirit — nor does poverty always banish these 

 qualities and their valuable effects. But yet no 

 one can deny that every benefit from these sources 

 that has served to improve the state of agriculture, 

 has been owing to the occupiers of large farms. 

 Examine the history of agriculture as far as it is 

 known, and no considerable improvement has 

 ever been introduced by the small farmer. 



The full consideration of this subject leads irrre- 

 sisfibly to the conclusion, that large farms, (not 

 too extensive f)r one nuxn to superintend, or tor 

 the advantageous employinent of the requisite la- 

 bor,) are the most conducive to both the profit of 

 the owners, and the public wealth. But however 

 true may be the general proposition, God Ibrbid 

 that soma future political Procrustes should have 

 the inclination and power to i)ut it into practical 

 operation, by throwing our small fiu-ms into large 

 ones, as effectually as the statute for the equal dis- 

 tribution of lands serves to cut up both large and 

 small farms into still smaller divisions. The enor- 

 mous losses that this policy has already produced 

 to agriculture, and to the coiumonvvealth, cannot 

 be remedied nor lessened — and it is equally vain 

 to hope for any cessation to the same disastrous 

 course. If our landmarks could hencct!)rth remain 

 permanent, or be altered only when both public 

 and private benefit would be promoted by the 

 change, then the existing divisions would serve to 

 produce all the benefits from large, as well as from 

 small firms. But the course we have pursued, 

 and still continue to pursue, seems to fix upon our- 

 selves all the evils of the worst planned divisions 

 of land, with the additional and still greater evil 

 of etidless change. 



Let me repeat, that I am not treating of the 

 equal distribution of land among the former owu- 



