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Vol. XXI, Second Series. 



ROCHESTER, N. Y., OCTOBER, 1860. 



No. 10. 



DAIEYING ON GRAIN FARMS. 



A RECENT visit to the dairying districts of tliis 

 State, has satisfied us that our wheat-growing far- 

 mers might keep more cows on their farms to 

 advantage. While there are undoubtedly districts 

 of country where the dairy business may be carried 

 on under the most favorable circumstances, yet 

 there is nothing in the business itself which need 

 prevent most of our wheat-growing farmers from 

 devoting a portion of their land to dairying pur- 

 poses. A " mixed husbandry" is usually the safest 

 and most profitable. No farm can long be devoted 

 to raising grain alone, and retain a high degree of 

 productiveness. New land has been heavily man- 

 ured by the accumulated deposit of leaves, etc , 

 from the primitive forests. For a few years, such 

 land will yield crops without any additional manure. 

 After a time, this natural manure becomes exhausted, 

 and the farmer must then furnish a new supply 

 himself, or be content to raise very ,'poor crops. 

 We have no fears in regard to "prospective ster- 

 ility." We hold that it was reasonable and just in 

 the earl}' settlers to avail themselves of this manure 

 which nature had deposited on their laud. They 

 have not exhausted the soil — they have merely used 

 ap the manure which they found spread out on 

 their newly-cleared farms. But, now that this 

 natural manure is gone, we must adopt a different 

 system of cultivation. We must sow less breadth 

 of grain crops, and devote more land to raising 

 those crops which impoverish the soil but little, 

 and which, when eaten by cattle, sheep or pigs, 

 furnish rich manure. In a word, we must Tceep 

 more stoch. 



We are well aware that the farmers of the older 

 states have to compete, under disadvantageous cir- 

 cumstances, with the farmers of the fertile West, in 

 feeding stock. Other things being equal, the far- 

 , mers of the West can raise meat and wool with 

 more profit than the Eastern farmers, if the Atlantic 

 cities are the ultimate market. It costs far less to 



send to a distant market five lbs. of pork or beef, 

 made from a bushel of corn, than to send the sixty 

 lbs. of grain. The farmers of Illinois can better 

 afford to feed corn to hogs or cattle, than the far- 

 mers of New York or New England, when both 

 have to sell in the same market. The freight on 

 produce from the West is a kind of protective duty 

 in favor of those residing, nearer market — and this 

 duty is far higher on a dollar's worth of grain than 

 on a dollar's worth of pork or beef. This will 

 always be so. The farmers of the West, so long as 

 the Eastern cities are the market, can always feed 

 out their corn on the farm with greater compara- 

 tive %yrofit than the farmers of the Middle and 

 Eastern States. 



It is this which so greatly enhances the difficulty 

 of making all the manure we want on the farm. 

 We have this advantage over the Western farmers : 

 the manure made by fattening stock is worth more 

 here than on the rich land of the West. We have, 

 too, for the time being, better barns and can feed 

 out our fodder more economically ; and there are 

 those who contend that these advantages are suffi- 

 cient to counterbalance the drawbacks we have 

 named. Be this as it may, it is certain that we 

 must look for competition from Western farmers in 

 supplying meat for the Eastern markets. 



We do not wish to remain content to raise an 

 average of only fifteen bushels of wheat per acre. 

 With our fine, sunny climate for maturing the 

 grain, we ought to average thirty bushels per acre 

 — and we shall do it. But ice must have manure. 



There is an increasing demand for cheese, not only 

 for home consumption, but for export. We see no 

 reason why the manufacture of this staple article 

 should be confined to particular districts. We can 

 make just as good cheese here, in Western- New 

 York, as in Herkimer or Lewis county. We hear 

 it said, "Our land is too valuable." Not at all. 

 We saw a farm of three hundred acres in Herkimer 

 county, that had recently been sold to a dairy farmei 



