1870. 



NEW ENGLAND FARRIER. 



167 



lence of which their race is susceptible. So 

 well established have become their merits in 

 all parts of our country where good grasses 

 abound, that no hesitation is now indulged by 

 those who want the best breed of cattle for gen- 

 eral purposes, to select the Short-horn as fitted 

 for their uses. The future demand for them, 

 as our broad Western country increases in set- 

 tlement and cultivation, must be almost illimit- 

 able. Never were the prospects for their sale so 

 promising as now." 



The American Botanist and Florist: including 

 LefB' DK !.■ tilt S rurture> Life, and Growth of Plants; 

 toift ther with a Simple Analytical Flora, deecriptive 

 of tl^e Native ai-d Cultiv.-.ted J'lantB growintr in the 

 Atlantic division of the American Uuion. By Al 

 photifo Wood, A.M., Auth' r of the Closs book of 

 Botany, &c. A. 8. Barnes & Co. New York and 

 Chicago. 1870. 564 pagis, price $2,60, post paid. 



Our acquaintance with the author's Class Book 

 of Botany, and a personal knowledge of his indus- 

 try and devotion to his favoiite science, have pre- 

 pared us for a favorable opinion of the more elab- 

 orate volume, of which the above is the title-page. 

 By avoiding repetitions and otherwise economiz- 

 ing space, it was his purpose in preparing this 

 work to furnish the student in botany with a com- 

 plete manual within the compass of an ordinary 

 duodecimo volume. Nearly 4000 species of plants 

 are defined, and the text is illustrated by a large 

 number of cuts. The volume is supplied with 

 Latin and English indexes, glossary, &c. 



For the New England Farmer, 



"territohiaIj expansion." 



The time has come when such books as 

 "Ten Acres Enough" seem to be considered 

 all "bosh," and we see the notice of a books 

 taking off the absurdities of such writers, 

 entitled 'Five Acres Too Much." 



While the impracticability of the teachings 

 of these writers is evident, the impracticability 

 of making it profitable to cultivate so much 

 land as we do, in the manner we do, is stril 

 more apparent. Another fact is also apparent, 

 — that an entire change in our farm operations 

 is required to make farming a respectable 

 business, when farms are offered at less than 

 their buildings are worth, and that upon a 

 glutted farm market ; while about every boy 

 who "knows enough to go in when it rains," 

 leaves the worn-out ancestral acres for some 

 mercantile, mechanical, or professional calling. 



1 have just been reading a suggestive arti- 

 cle from an 18G0 Farmer. I can't tell the 

 exact date, as the article was cut out. It is 

 entitled "Farming on a Small Scale," bv which 

 the author, "P. U. S.." East Bethel, Vt., evi- 

 dently meant cultivating a small surface ; as I 

 judge tlie profits were larger than most of our 

 "large farmers" cm obtam. "P. C. S." did 

 not give his neighbor's name, as that modest 

 individual preferred hiding his light under a 

 bushel. But here is what he tays : "His farm 

 con.sists of only seven acres, jet the produce 

 of that seven acres" (he says nothing about 



pasturing) "last winter, carried through, in the 

 best manner, forty sheep, two cows, one horse, 

 and he thinks he had hay enough left to have 

 wintered two cows more. This winter he haa 

 fifty-two sheep, one horse, one cow, and one 

 yearling, while one acre of his land was laid 

 down to grass so late this spring, that it pro- 

 duced nothing, no grain being sown." And 

 he goes on with some of the details of his 

 management. (Wouldn't it be well to repub- 

 lish that article, Messrs. Editors?) And 

 wouldn't it be well to hear from you, now, 

 Mr. "P. C. S?" "Such farmers," says "Re- 

 marks," "are the pride of New England." 



In the September No. of the Atlantic 

 Monthly, in an article entitled "Confucius and 

 the Chinese," the author, probably Mr. C. C. 

 Coffin, says : "Farms are small, of one or two 

 acres ; and each family raises on its farm all it 

 consumes." In regard to the strict correct- 

 ness of all these statements, doubts may be en- 

 tertained by some ; and no one wishes the 

 people of this country to come down to the 

 Chinese standard of living. Still, in the main, 

 these statements are doubtless correct, and it 

 requires something to live, even in China ; and 

 instances can be pointed out in every town, 

 where immense crops are raised from a small 

 farm, with more profit than is obtained from 

 much larger ones. 



However, the question is not altogether 

 "what size shall a farm be," but rather "to 

 how high a state of fertilization and cultivation 

 should a farm be carried ?" One man may 

 be able to carry on advantageously a hundred 

 times more business than another ; and one 

 piece of land may have a soil which will make 

 a higher state of cultivation more profitable than 

 another. A very le cby soil may, in some 

 cases, be manured less heavily than a more 

 re*^t ntive one, for the good reason that the fer- 

 tilizing properties contained in the former are 

 more likely to be carried below the reach of 

 plant roots. Such soils may be manured 

 lightly and often, and medium crops obtained 

 with greater profit, than by the process of very 

 heavy manuring, and laiger crops. At the 

 same time most of our cultivated soils may be 

 made to produce very heavily, with more profit 

 from an acre with a double crop, than from 

 two with a single one. 



Now, suppose I have a three acre lot, the 

 soil being alike throughout, naturalhf ; and 

 with a fall average capacity for the production 

 of grass. Supposing the lot to be equally di- 

 vided into three parts, we will say that one of 

 the acres yields two tons of hay, while each of 

 the other two, yields only one ton ; that is, 

 two tons to both. Meanwhile the proportion 

 of the different elements contained in the 

 fertilizing materials used is the same, and such 

 as to fit the t^oil for the growth of grass, and 

 al.so to produce a permanent fertility of the 

 soil — not like some of our concentrated ma- 

 nures, which cause the production of a few 

 immense crops, to the injury of the land. 



