SUGGESTIONS ON MANAGING THE FARM. 55 



HliS^TS A^D SUGGESTION'S OJST MANAGING 



THE FAEM. 



ESSEX. 

 An Essay by Charles J. Peabody. 



How can a young man with a small farm and but little 

 money make more than it costs to live ? A difficult question 

 to answer, as not only have the situation and soil of the farm 

 to be considered, but the disposition of the owner also. 



I purpose at this time to discuss what can be done by farm- 

 ers having from fifty to eighty acres of good land, in the 

 central or western part of the county. A fair valuation of 

 such land in my neighborhood is $40 per acre for pasture-land, 

 and $75 to $125 for fielding, and I suppose about the same in 

 other sections of the county. 



To this discussion I come with but a limited experience ; 

 and though I have given much thought to the subject, as every 

 one must to his constant employment, the conclusions to 

 which I have come are doubtless somewhat imperfect, as time 

 enough has not elapsed to thoroughly test them in the field. 

 And many men have found that if all that can be done on 

 paper could be made equally satisfactory and profitable on 

 the farm, we should not need to pursue the subject of this 

 essay any further, since by availing ourselves of a few books 

 we could all be wealthy and wise. 



I have no plan to oifer which is original with myself, for I 

 believe the best chance of success is found in looking into the 

 methods of those who have been prosperous, aud copying the 

 best points of their systems into our practice. 



In doing tliis care must be used that the changes attempted 

 are not on so large a scale as to embarrass one, if any unex- 

 pected circumstances should prevent its being as profitable as 

 was expected. This is especially true of new crops, as fre- 



