60 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



articles of prime necessity, go but a little way in supplying the 

 wants of a family in a New England village, and for which they 

 are able and willing to pay. Choice vegetables of every variety, 

 early and late, fruits, large and small, the old standard kinds 

 and tlie new varieties, roots of every kind, forage, milk, butter, 

 cheese, young meat, veal, lamb, poultry, these are all in great 

 and increasing demand ; they are preferred, and sought for the 

 home supply, and no attempt is or will be made to obtain them 

 from abroad, so long as they can be procured here. 



The condition of our soil to-day is such that no efforts of ours 

 would avail to furnish all the food of our people, even if it was 

 desirable. It is undoubtedly our wisest course to thoroughly 

 understand the wants, present and prospective, of our consuming 

 population ; the capabilities of our soil, the. crops we can grow 

 best and preserve its fertility, the special advantages and disad- 

 vantages of our respective locations for supplying some one or 

 more of the wants of the market of our immediate neighborhood. 

 It is impossible to say what should be the leading crop or crops 

 of each individual farmer. This matter each must decide for 

 himself according to surrounding circumstances. As a rule it 

 is well, but not imperative, for each and every farmer to supply 

 from his soil all the food of his family which it is capable of pro- 

 ducing, as this can be done as an adjunct to his main business of 

 producing other crops for sale, and by the rotation necessary to 

 his process of culture. In this way it may be well for him at 

 times to grow the wheat for family consumption, for there are 

 few farms in the State on which, in this sense, it cannot be prof- 

 itably grown. If the first attempt fail, indicating a want in the 

 soil or uncongenial climate, early sowing and an application of 

 the mineral constituents of the wheat plant, which can be cheaply 

 made, will make success a certainty. 



The farmer, before adopting the line of husbandry to be pur- 

 sued, and the crops to be sold from the farm, should know pre- 

 cisely what effect that culture and the deportation of those crops 

 will have upon his farm, that ho may guard against its deterio- 

 ration. If the wants of his market induce him to engage in 

 vegetable culture, and ho sells potatoes, cabbages, onions, and 

 the varied products of the market garden, he should know that 

 he is rapidly exporting the potash of his soil, and in no small 

 amount the lime and magnesia. And if he would be able to 



