21(3 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



or a large manufacturing village, where there is a ready market 

 for every kind of garden vegetable, would be sufficient, and at 

 the same time do a large business. 



At an agricultural meeting a short time since, I heard a 

 gentleman say that he sold from his form of about thirty-five 

 acres, some $13,000 worth of produce annually ; and another 

 gentleman remarked that he sold from seventeen acres, from 

 $5,000 to $7,000 worth annually. Their farming was in the 

 line of market-gardening, and this requires a great deal of 

 labor and high cultivation. 



Some have advanced the idea that ten acres is all that any 

 one ought to cultivate, and " ten acres enough " has been a 

 popular cry. In this case, every foot of land is turned to 

 account, and large incomes are realized ; garden vegetables 

 and the small fruits are cultivated, and placed in the market 

 early and fresh. But not having any practical knowledge of this 

 particular branch of farming, I shall not enlarge on this point. 



On the other hand, I have seen farmers, more distant from 

 market, upon farms of fifty acres and apparently pleasantly 

 situated, keeping two cows and a horse, getting a comfortable 

 living with little expense, and not much income. Others, 

 more distant from market, have one, two, three, and some 

 five hundred acres, and a few still more than that, with cattle 

 counted by scores and sheep by hundreds grazing thereon, 

 some for the dairy and some for the shambles, at all seasons 

 of the year. 



On such farms ten, or even twenty, acres of corn, rye, oats, 

 barley, and potatoes, in rotation, with hard labor, will return 

 a fair income. 



The hay-fields, in some cases ten acres in extent, in some 

 fifty, and in others even one hundred acres in area, yield 

 usually one crop, sometimes two, which afford enough hay for 

 home consumption, and a surplus for the stable-men, miles 

 away. 



A farm of two hundred acres (without a mortgage), back 

 in the country among the hills and valleys, with good farm- 

 buildings, located near a small village, churches, school- 

 houses, post-office, stores, and situated not very far from a 

 railroad station, is the most desirable of all places for a 

 growing family, and is a convenient size for proper manage- 



