NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



'2ib 



ad to the interest of the farmer, and what can 

 e accomplished by this class of the communi- 

 fj A gentleman, with a capital, may gratify 

 is taste and curiosity in conducting his farm. — 

 Vith him, it is immaterial, in his mode of culti- 

 1)1) ation, whether he is remunerated for his ex- 

 ense or not. Not so with the common farmer. 

 D any particular method of manuring and cul- 

 ivating recommended, the first inquiry is, what 

 vill be the clear gain, and shall i realize it at 

 he end of the first or second year? It is to be 

 emembered by our cultivators generally in Es- 

 les, that the farm is their dependence ; nor can 

 hey adopt any system of husbandry which will 

 lot give them an immediate profit. 



The gentleman of capital, whose farm is his 

 imusement, may wait years for his reward. — 

 The common farmer wants his pay down. Plans 

 of improFement have been recommended, prac- 

 ticable indeed to the man of wealth, but whol- 

 I3' uninteresting to the mass of farmers in Es- 

 sex, because beyond their ability. They can 

 adopt no sj'stem, which the farm itself cannot 

 support. It is a maxim in husbandry, that no 1 

 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 ev- 

 ery pursuit, commerce, manufactures, the me- 

 chanic arts and agriculture, gain is the first ob- 

 ject. Schemes of cultivation have been pro- 

 posed, but visionary, because you would be left 

 in debt. With great expense 1 may obtain great 

 crops; but if not remunerated for the labor 

 and expense, 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 val- 

 uable improvement in husbandry, to increase 

 your productions, if your expense is proportion- 

 ably increased ; because it leaves you no addi- 

 tional 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 increas- 

 ed in proportion to the increase of crop to raise 

 an hundred bushels, where is my profit ? It is 

 of importance, then, in every proposed im- 

 provement, that careful calculations should be 

 made of the increased expense. The great de- 

 sideratum is, to increase the productiveness of a 

 farm, so that the expense may bear a less ratio 

 to the increase. j 



The moderate size of our farms in this coun-l 

 ty renders it necessary, that husbandry be con-| 

 ducted on a limited scale. A small farm, how-i 

 ever, well cultivated, is much more profitable 

 than a large one, which is neglected. Many of 

 «ur farmers have materially injured themselves, 

 by endeavors to gratify an insatiable desire of 

 possessing much land. Nothing gives them 

 more pleasure than adding field to field. Id 

 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. Admitting you can purchase land with- 

 «ut involving yourself in debt, and place it in 

 Z state of cultivation, the measure may be ju- 

 dicious. A more common practice is, to plunge 

 into debt for the purchase, and to leave the 

 land half cultivated. The consequence is, the 

 interest of the money, taxes, and the expense 

 of labor, eventually consume the purchase. 

 How manj ol" our I'arnaers complaia they are in 



debt ! and these debts have principally been | 

 contracted by purchasing land they cannot half 

 cultivate.* In the country, rarely will you find; 

 a field which will pay the labor, the interest! 

 and the taxes. By purchasing:, then, youim-l 

 pose a burden on yourself difficult to sustain. 

 Many have been impoverished, and not a few 

 have been ruined, by possessing themselves of 

 land for which they could not pay- The intel- 

 ligent farmer, before he plunges into dept, will 

 not fail to attend to this plain question, Will the 

 income of the intended purchase more than 

 repay the interest, the labor and the faxes ? If 

 not you are better without the land. The pos- 

 ses-sion of more land than can be improved is a 

 tax upon the owner. 



It has been said, nor can it be too often re- 

 peated, that manure is of the first importance 

 on a farm. Notwithstanding the various ways 

 of collecting it have been pointed out, its utili- 

 ty and necessity urged by scientific and practi- 

 cal men, little attention is paid to the subject 

 by one half the farmers in the county. Noth- 

 ing more is provided for their fields, than what 

 is collected from their hovels in the winter, and 

 the pens of their cows in the summer. He who 

 does not attend to this branch of husbandry, is 

 not deserving the name of a farmer. Every 

 barn yard, after being emptied in the spring, 

 should be immediately replenished, either with 

 scrapings from the streets, earth which 

 has been collected by wash, or the vegetable 

 soil of low meadows. The latter is preferable 

 tor warm, dry land. Where cows are folded 

 over the night, a most valuable composition 

 may be prepared through the summer. It is 

 known to every farmer, that turning it often 

 with a plough or fork will greatly increase its 

 value. Of manure, too much cannot be said. 

 The subject cannot too frequently be brought 

 into view, nor too pressingly urged. It gives 

 ycu grass and your grain. Although there is 

 little danger of applying too great a quantity to 

 yotr land, it may be used to excess. Indian 

 corn will bear a free dressing ; but your crop 

 of small grain may be injured by manuring too 

 highly. It will either be choked by weeds, 

 or fall down and perish before ripe. Even 

 grass land may be manured to excess — causing 

 your grass to fall before half grown ; or, if it 

 escape this calamity, is rank and coarse, and not 

 relished by your cattle. On the rich bottom 

 lands in the Western States, when first cleared, 

 a succession of crops of Indian corn are taken 

 oiT to reduce the land, before wheat is applied. 



* This is often the effect of a pardonable pride — 

 that liberty in which we glory — liberty lor every man 

 to dispose of his own property as he pleases, or, if he 

 dies intestate, the law divides it equally among his 

 heirs, la England, though the laws do not forbid a 

 division of their large estates, the eldest son usually 

 possesses the soil and titles of his ancestors ; the youn- 

 ger branches of the family not participating in the 

 landed property. In the United States, as the law 

 makes an equal distribution of property among the 

 heirs, one takes the farm by paying out legacies. Un- 

 willing to dispose of the paternal inheritance, he com- 

 mences life with a burden of debt ; under the weight 

 of which he is often crushed. The child who inherits 

 the homestead, is usually envied. More frequently is 

 his the harder lot. This law, which equalizes proper- 

 ty in a family, is productive of one happy eflect ; it 

 preserves an equality among our citizens, not known 

 in England ; and, so long as this law shall be in force, 

 will forever preserve us from the evils of those wide 

 extremes there experienced — overgrown wealth, aad 

 abject poverty, 



Few articles are cultivated with greater 

 profit and success in this country, than Indian 

 corn. The valunblo uses to which it may be 

 applied, are well iiudcrsfood. Yet errors, un- 

 doubtedly, obtain in its cultivation. It is a gen- 

 eral practice ^vith good farmers, to give their 

 corn three hoeings, without regard to different 

 soils, or the slate of their land. Whereas 

 four hceings are more necessary for some field.-, 

 than two for others. It is indispensable that 

 the weeds be kept down, let it cost what labor 

 it may. If three hoeings will not do it apply 

 the fourth. Permit them to grow, not only do 

 they injure your present crop, by taking the 

 moisture and nourishment from your corn, but 

 suffer them to seed, and a foundation is laid for 

 a harvest of weeds the following year. Indian 

 corn is usually succeeded by small grain: and 

 how often have we observed it choked, and, 

 before harvest, overtopped, by weeds sown the 

 preceding year, through the neglect of the hus- 

 bandman! In land naturally weedy, when sown 

 with small grain, I have sometimes nearly lost 

 my crop by its being overtopped, by weeds 

 The evil has been remedied, by increasing the 

 quantity of seed. Upon the farm on which I 

 was born and brought up, (my father was a 

 husbandman) it was practised, in planting Indian 

 corn on sward land, to put the summer manure 

 into the hill : the winter manure was spread, 

 and, as was termed, harrowed in, but not a 

 fourth part was covered ; the rest was lost by 

 evaporation. This injudicious practice is still 

 continued by many farmers. To our President 

 we feel indebted for many valuable remarks on 

 this subject.* If corn is hoed after it begins to 

 top, the plough ought not to be used. It has 

 been found at this advanced state of the corn, 

 that fibres extend four and five feet, near the 

 surface of the ground, in' search of nourish- 

 ment. These fibres are cut by the plough ; 

 the corn 13 deprived of much of its nourish» 

 ment, and your crop is injured. If necessary to 

 remove weeds, let the hoe be the instrument. 

 It is believed to be of consequence, that atten- 

 tion be paid to the form of the hill. Some pre- 

 fer a large hill, of a conical form, as it will pre- 

 serve the stalks more erect ; and by making a 

 large hill, all the manure is brought into the 

 vicinity, and the corn will more readily avail 

 itself of the advantage. A flat hill, of a mod- 

 erate size, is unquestionably preferable ; the 

 stalks are permitted to spread themselves — are 

 not so easily broken by the wind — more readily 

 admit the sun, the dew and showers. Nor is 

 a large hill necessary, that the manure may be 

 drawn up; the fibres, which wander so far in 

 search of nourishment, will find it, if uponyour 

 land. 



Summer wheat, though a most valuable grain., 

 is not adapted to the county of Essex. In some 

 of our western districts, it may be cultivated 

 with success, while we have sustained from 

 its cultivation very material loss, within the 

 last thirty years. Not oftener than once in 

 three or four years do you obtain a decent crop- 

 In the intermediate years, your produce is 

 small. Average your grain for four years, and 

 you find the profits light. Still, the farmer lives 

 in hope, and continues the cultivation of a 

 grain which but indifferently rewards him for 

 his labor. Wiiereas, barley and oals rarely faii 



* See Hon. Mr. PickeriDg''s Address to Ite £mw 

 Agricultaral Secietj, 1818, pages 6, 9- 



