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siclered what crops his farm is best adapted to produce, 

 the matter of concentrating capital and lahor upon it, is 

 worthy the careful study of each farmer. 



The common fault in New England is that of attempt- 

 ing to cover too much surface, to have too great a va- 

 riety of crops, so that the cultivation is not so neat, so 

 thorough, nor so profitable as it ought to be. I have re- 

 ferred to a style of planting which gives to the fields 

 the appearance of a checker-board, w^ith very small 

 squares, and wdiich, apparently, proceeds on the princi- 

 pal that a large variety, though planted on a thin soil, 

 insufficiently fertilized and half cared for, will make up 

 for heavy manuring, deep ploughing, and clean, careful 

 cultivation. 



In keeping with this mode of raising the crops, is 

 that method of selling them, which, for the sake of get- 

 ting the retail prices, spends valuable time in taking- 

 small quantities to market and peddling them out, fre- 

 quently occupying a day, which would be worth two 

 dollars if employed in getting out the muck, working it 

 over and spreading it on the farm, in disposing of articles 

 that do not bring more than two dollars in cash. But 

 while we could not approve of such a style of doing- 

 things, neither would we recommend ordinary farmers 

 to attempt competition with, or even imitation of, those 

 of their neighbors who pursue expensive methods — 

 methods which look rather to the style than to the prof- 

 its of farm management. The latter, ordinarily, are gen- 

 tlemen famers, who have a prosperous manufactory or 

 mercantile establishment, or a quantity of stock in 

 banks and railroads, on which they can rely for the 

 means, so that, in the fjirm buildings, the laying out of 

 their fields, the fences, the fertilizers employed, the trees 

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