8 



They can adopt no system, which the farm iiJie//" cannot support. 

 It is a maxim in husbandry, that no scheme of management is of 

 advantage to the community, which will not give a profit ; and 

 that is the best which will afford the greatest profit with the 

 least labor and expense. In every pursuit, commerce, manufac- 

 tures, the mechanic arts and agriculture, gain is the first object. 

 Schemes of cultivation have been proposed, but visionary, be- 

 cause you would be left in debt. With great expense I may ob- 

 tain great crops; but if not remunerated for the labor and ex- 

 pense, even my great crops will ruin me. The question is not 

 simply. How a great crop may be obtained ; there is a second 

 question. Will this great crop pay for itself? It is no valuable 

 improvement in husbandry, to increase your productions, if 

 your expense is proportionably increased ; because it leaves 

 you no additional gain. If, with a certain portion of labor and 

 expense, I can obtain forty bushels of corn from the acre, and 

 the expense must be increased in proportion to the increase of 

 crop to raise an hundred bushels, where is my profit ? It is of 

 importance, then, in every proposed improvement, that care- 

 ful calculations should be made of the increased expense. The 

 great desideratum is, to increase the productiveness of a farm, 

 so that the expense may bear a less ratio to the increase. 



The moderate size of our farms in this county renders it ne- 

 cessary, that husbandry be conducted on a limited scale. A small 

 farm, however, well cultivated, is much more profitable than a 

 large one, which is neglected. Many of our farmers have ma- 

 terially injured themselves, by endeavors to gratify an insa- 

 tiable desire of possessing much land. Nothing gives them 

 more pleasure than adding field to field. In justification, it is 

 pleaded, their property vested in land is secure. This remark 

 may be just ; but you often sacrifice one half to secure the 

 other. It is bad management, and a mistaken policy. Admit- 

 ting you can purchase land without involving yourself in debt, 

 and place it in a state of cultivation, the measure may be judi- 

 cious. A more common practice is, to plunge into debt for the 

 purchase, and to leave the land half cultivated. The conse- 

 quence is, the interest of the money, taxes, and the expense of 

 labor, eventually consume the purchase.* How many of our 



