REPORT ON CROPS. 



Gentlemen : — Numberless are the plans for success in farming ; 

 but unfortunately many of them are, like an excellent lady's advice 

 to her husband, somewhat too general. " John," she said, " I'll tell 

 you what I'd do : I'd plant a good lot, and manure it well, and take 

 good care of it," Occasionally some one undertakes to tell us how 

 this is to be done ; but a course which may seem simple and easy to 

 one, is entirely beyond the comprehension and ability of his neighbor. 



For instance, at a meeting of the Farmers' Institute, a wealthy and 

 worthy gentleman, who had inherited a good property and exceptional 

 business capacity, advised farmers to buy cattle and fat them, and 

 so enrich their farms and themselves. He admitted that this required 

 caution and good judgment, but had little sympathy with those who 

 pleaded poverty. " If they have not money to buy cattle, let thern 

 go to the bank and borrow it," he said, as honestly as the little 

 Princess said, " How foolish of the poor people to starve to death ! 

 I'd eat bread and cheese first. 



But, says another, if you have little manure and cannot afford to 

 buy, you should plant the less and do ample justice to that. But 

 this is not so conclusive as it appears. If you have plenty of manure 

 and little land and labor, you must clearly manure highly as far as 

 you go ; but if you have only a small amount of manure in proportion 

 to the, land and labor at your disposal, it seems desirable to make 

 your manure go as far as it will. 



I do not claim that these arguments are entirely unanswerable ; 

 but they account for a good deal of the farming I practise, and some 

 of that which I see in my neighbors' fields. 



These among other considerations have induced me to relate my 

 success in raising two paying crops of corn on land in a reduced con- 

 dition, with only a small supply of manure. 



