THE farmer’s manual. 
17 
It IS common for farmers to argue thus; This land 
must bear corn again ; thiS'ground tills easy, and bore 
good crops the last year, and the year before : without 
reflecting, that after the third crop, the land will have 
sunk one half of its value for the next year’s tillage, 
or will require a length of time, or an expense of ma- 
nure to restore its fertility, which will greatly reduce 
the value of the preceding crops. The same larmer 
would not say, Take such a horse from my stable to 
perform such a journey, he has just returned from a 
second of the same length, and he has done well : but 
he would rather say. Feed such a horse with particu- 
lar care.; for he has just performed two long journeys, 
and take a fresh horse for the next long journey : the 
other horse with proper care, w’ill do the business of 
the family until he is recruited. Just so with youc 
land ; all the animal principles peculiar to your horse, 
or your ox, are common to your land, (except loco- 
motion,) and require the same attentive care and 
nursing, to render it profitable. 
Flax is generally considered a poor crop, and with 
poor husbandry it is correctlj'' estimated ; but with 2, 
3, or 4 ploughings,and rich manures, flax will produce 
4, 5, or 6cwt. to the acre, with 8 or 10 bushels of 
seed: this is no mean crop; say 5cwt. at 12 cts. $60 
10 bushels seed at 1 dollar, - 10 
$ 70 
If your land is suitable for flax, the season lavoura- 
ble, and you manure with 10, 15, or 20 loads of well 
rotted, rich manui'c, and dress, and harrow in with I 
or 5 bushels of line salt to the acre, or 1 , 2, or 3 
bushels of plaster, and sow clean seed, three bushels 
to the acre, you may always expect 4 to Cewt. to the 
acre ; whereas even two would pay you handsomely ; 
6cwt. of flax to the acre, have been raised from five 
pecks of seed, after hemp five years in succession, 
with about 1 3 bushels of seed ; this proves t^iat hemp 
f) 
