54 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jan. 



to produce large crops. It may satisfy the doubt- 

 ful new settler, to prove to him that a hundred 

 bushels of corn may be made to grow on an acre 

 of land. But of what advantage is it to a Massa- 

 chusetts or New Hampshire farmer to have it 

 proved for fifty years in succession, that one hun- 

 dred bushels of corn or thereabouts may be grown 

 on an acre? The 2)ossibilities have been shown 

 again and again, and whether the extreme limit be 

 ten bushels more or less, seems of no importance. 



The legitimate object of premiums in our old so- 

 cieties is the promotion of good husbandi-j\ The 

 true idea of good husbandry is the increasing the 

 permanent income of our farms. It is not good hus- 

 bandry to raise an enormous crop upon one acre, at 

 an extravagant outlay of manure and labor. It is 

 not good husbandry to produce a large crop for a 

 single year, by a process exhausting to the soil. 

 Good husbandry implies a system which may be 

 permanent, a system which shall, through a whole 

 rotation, through a series of years, produce crops 

 sufficient to repay labor and the interest of capital, 

 without depreciating the land. 



We are speaking now of the old States. In new 

 States good husbandry may be quite another mat- 

 ter. It certainly must be good husbandry for the 

 pioneer to keep off starvation, and so to get his 

 first crops with the least labor, even at the ex- 

 pense of his soil. He frequently borrows his pur- 

 chase money, and must pay off the mortgage in 

 two or three years, or lose his land ; and if, in so 

 doing, he plunders his soil, and sends away to 

 market its elements of fertility in the shape of 

 wheat and corn, he has a good excuse for his 

 course. 



This, however, is not, in fact, husbandry, good 

 or bad. It is rather milling — digging up and sell- 

 ing the wealth which Nature has buried in the 

 earth. Our forefathers have thoroughly performed 

 this operation over most of New England. They 

 took what the natural fertility of the soil, enriched 

 by the ashes of the noble forests, could give them, 

 and bequeathed to us the old heritage of bread 

 for labor. « 



Is it not time to inquire for what purpose do we 

 continue annually to offer and pay these premi- 

 ums for monster crops of our standard grains 

 ftom a single acre ? Is it not a waste of money, 

 and often worse ? Do we know that the acre was, 

 on the whole, judiciously cultivated ? Do we in- 

 quire whether the rest of the farm Avas . robbed, 

 to manure this premium crop ? Should not the 

 award be to him who shows the best average of 

 crops for a year, or for a series of years ? Or to 

 him who shows the largest profit, on the whole, of 

 his farm accounts ? 



How is it as to animals ? Is it really useful to 

 encoura":e a breed of horses for the race-courso or 

 the trotting-course ? Is the horse that can trot 



"inside of 2.40" usually a valuable horse for any 

 service ? It may be profitable to produce enough 

 of such horses to supply the demand of the "fan- 

 cy" men who have money to thi-ow away for the 

 gratification of a low taste, but a 2.40 horse is a 

 monster, not a regular product. 



Some societies offer premiums for the quickest 

 and best plowing by oxen, of a given tract. Now 

 every farmer knows that oxen may be driven to 

 plow a quarter acre, in much less than half the 

 time they can be properly or profitably made to 

 do the same work. You might as well award the 

 premium to those which should walk farthest on 

 their hind legs, as for this unnatural speed. 



Again, Ave offer prizes often for animals and 

 crops known to be unsuited to the locality. It 

 would not promote good husbandry to award a 

 premium for the best elephant or the best crop of 

 cotton groAvn in New England. If the prize Avere 

 large enough, Barnum, or somebody else, would 

 carry it away in great triumph. Clearly we should 

 not encourage by premiums the production of an- 

 imals or crops unsuited to our soil and climate. 

 "N^Hien Ave become satisfied that a mode of culture 

 of a given crop is and must be, unprofitable, let us 

 drop the premium for it from our list. If, for in- 

 stance, we are convinced that cranberries cannot be 

 profitably cultivated on upland, let us discourage 

 and not encourage the attempt. Perhaps that ex- 

 periment has not been often enough repeated. By 

 all means encourage its repetition, till the question 

 is fairly settled. 



These hints are tlu'OAvn out to set other men 

 thinking on the subject. 



The principles upon Avhich premium lists should 

 be constructed in om- old States are plain. They 

 are — 



1st. To encourage the product of crops and an- 

 imals, of kinds and by methods Avhich Avill prove 

 profitable in the long run. 



2. To encourage experiments in ncAv products 

 and methods, until reliable conclusions may be 

 formed, and no longer. 



3. To encourage exhibitions that shall tend tx) 

 dignify agriculture in all its departments. 



An Apple Tree at Woodside, San Mateo coun- 

 ty, California, is described as follows : Height of 

 tree from the ground to topmost limb, 10 feet 6 

 inches ; circumference of trunk (two feet from the 

 ground,) 6|inches ; 269 apples on the tree at pres 

 ent, some 15 or 20 having fallen off. A fair av 

 erage of the circumference of the apples is 9| 

 inches. On another tro*^, one apple measured 14 

 inches round. — California Farmer. 



HoAV TO Catph Rats. — Rats are not the onl 

 species of tenants that outAvit their landlords , 

 they Avill sometimes shun all baits and traps. As 

 many modes of getting rid of them cause them to 



