OF CROPS AND THEIR CULTIVATION. 
275 
negro becomes familiar, and which he can conduct without a constant superintendence. It is 
an interesting question, which plan of field operations is the most profitable ; whether the 
greatest profit is on the side of a multiplicity of products, or where it is confined to one staple 
and standard crop I It is true that there are casualties which might affect, for a succession of 
years, a single crop, by which the planter would be a constant loser, and each of the southern 
staples which have been named are known to fluctuate in value. But the question does not 
lose its interest when it comes home to the north, for here we may create a staple of Indian 
corn or wheat, or the attention may be turned to stock, or it may be directed to sheep or dairy 
husbandry, or to the raising of young stock by pasturage. I say the attention may be turned 
to either of these branches, exclusively; the question then would be raised, which plan of hus¬ 
bandry is the most profitable, that which confines itself to one staple or that which produces 
annually many and varied kinds 1 The liability of a failure in a crop, which if it happen strikes 
out a year’s profit or year’s labor, with its current expenses to be met, is a consideration which 
must have great weight in its decision : on the contrary, if several kinds of products are raised, 
the failure of one will not entirely blast the hopes of the husbandman ; and so varied are the 
wants of plants of the different products, that it is quite rare and unexpected that a loss by an 
unfavorable season should affect the crops at large. 
Questions of this nature are not of easy solution ; they do not turn on a single fact—they 
have a varied aspect, and must be looked at under a variety of circumstances. Location* is a 
point of much moment; the pursuits in the neighborhood of large cities are controlled by the 
wants of such cities; not entirely, perhaps, but they give shape to the general employment of 
men. Sheep, if kept, will be kept for their flesh ; cattle will be fattened for the market; gar¬ 
den vegetables will require the attention of many; in fine, farmers will be employed, in the 
vicinity of large towns, in producing the immediate necessaries of life, in supplying the daily- 
wants of those who are engaged in commerce, mercantile and mechanical pursuits. Under the 
control of such circumstances a varied husbandry will force itself upon the attention of pro¬ 
ducers. At a distance from the bustling scenes of a city and the busy haunts of men, the farmer 
is free in his choice of subjects of culture. It is there he may turn his whole attention to wheat 
or maize, sheep or cows, horses or oxen. But is there encouragement to confine his attention 
to one subject I There is this in favor of it, he soon learns to do this one thing excedingly well. 
Experience guides him in rearing sheep, cattle or horses, in raising meat or clothing. On the one 
side, he has but one tlfing for market, and it may be glutted ; on the other, again, if the market 
is glutted with one kind of produce, he has another which he may try, and another still, if the 
second fails. Buckwheat, oats, Indian corn, potatoes and fruit, may all be sent to market, and 
it would be very strange if one or more did not return itself upon the owner with profit. There 
is another consideration, too ; the soil of most estates has a variability which favors a varied hus¬ 
bandry, and hence, in order that the farmer may turn his patrimony to the best account, and 
make it tell the highest figures, he must take advantage of the qualities of his soil. 
