AGRICULTURE IN THE UNITED STATES. 43 



may be acquiring wealth for their children to differ 

 about ; but, nine times out of ten, their system of ag- 

 riculture is barbarous, their method of living scan- 

 dalous, and their farms the very reverse of neatness 

 and order. We cannot expect that a man who does 

 this will spend his capital in beautifying and putting 

 his farm in order ; in planting, and draining, and re- 

 pairing, when such expenditures will not repay him 

 more than seven per cent., whereas by purchasing 

 more, or new lands, there is a probability that 30 or 

 50 may be realized. It requires too great an effort 

 of self-denial to see our neighbours enlarging their 

 domains to the size of a German principality, and to 

 be content with some two or four hundred acres. 

 We have, as a body of farmers, yet to learn that the 

 products of a small farm, in proportion to the capi- 

 tal invested, are usually greater than those of large 

 farms. We have yet to acquire a taste for small, 

 neat, well-finished, and well-furnished houses, in 

 preference to the enormous " shingle palaces" which 

 we take such a delight in erecting ; and when shall 

 we learn that a few acres, well- fenced, kept clean 

 of weeds, and growing richer and more productive 

 every year, are better than many acres with the 

 fences rotted or thrown down, the fields and crops 

 choked with weeds, and the soil, from the wretched 

 course of cultivation, annually deteriorating in value 

 and productiveness 1 It is a very poor plan in farm- 

 ers to wear out and impoverish what land they have 

 because they can buy more ; better raise a few acres 

 to the height of fertility, place it in perfect order, 

 and then, if there is any surplus capital, after at- 

 tending to the moral and intellectual wants of the 

 family, it may be profitably expended in more lands, 

 to be gradually brought to the same state. 



Such are some of the most prominent causes that, 

 in our estimation, have contributed to place agricul- 

 ture where it now is : not as bad, it is true, as it was 

 some twenty-five years since, but still very far from 



