1S84.] 
AMERICA]Sr AGRICULTURIST. 
535 
Renting Land on Shares. 
As a rule, fanners do not like to rent land in 
iigh condition on shares, and the man who works 
land on shares almost alwa3’S pays too high a rent 
for it. We have, rarely seen a farm that had been 
rented on shares for several years that was not 
badly “ run down.” It would seem, therefore, that 
there is something radically wrong in the system. 
The only farming that pays is good fanning. We 
mean by good farming, draining when necessary, 
thorough cultivation, the destruction of weeds, 
saving and applying m.anure or plowing under 
green crops, and doing the work in good season 
and in a workmanlike manner. The man who hires 
farm, it is evident that, other things being equal, 
the more labor a crop requires and receives for 
its proper cultivation, the more rent you pay. 
An apple orchard in bearing condition is profitable 
to the tenant. Unless he has a good crop to gather 
and market, he need spend but little labor on it. 
A meadow or pasture requires but little labor. 
A crop of oats or barley, or spring wheat, costs 
but little to put in or harvest. Crops which need 
hoeing and cultivating, cost more than wheat, bar¬ 
ley, oats, buckwheat, millet, timothy, clover, etc. 
We have known a farmer to let land to one man to 
sow to oats in the spring, followed with winter 
wheat iii the fall, and to another man land to plant 
to potatoes—both on the halves, the tenant to do 
Others, thinking that an uncongenial soil is the 
cause of failure, are at great trouble to procure 
leaf-mould, and endeavor to imitate their natural 
conditions, but all without favorable results. Not¬ 
withstanding the many failures, these shrubs areas 
easily managed as any others. Spring is the best 
time for moving them. Before taking them up, 
cut off every branch, leaving nothing but a stem. 
Public Parks—The Crotona. 
Among the new parks proposed for New York 
City is a tract not far from the Bronx River, in 
Westchester County, which is frequently visited 
A WOODED PAEK. 
land on shares pays for it in labor. The more labor 
he puts into the land the higher rent he pays—the 
less labor the less rent. This is true, at least, so 
far as the tenant is concerned. He may put con¬ 
siderable labor into the land without the owner 
getting any benefit from it, owing to poor land or 
poor judgment, or the failure of the crops from 
floods, drouth, insects, etc. But if the tenant puts 
on the labor, he pays the money which the labor 
represents, whether the owner gets it or not. In 
other words, the tenant assumes the risk of poor 
seasons, just as much as if he paid money rent. He 
quickly finds this out, and sooner or later learns 
that the less labor he puts on the less risk he nins. 
In spite of all this, we know many who have 
done well in renting farms on shares. They have 
now good farms of their own, all paid for. In fact 
they have bought the farms they formerly rented. 
Of course the owners of the farms were lucky in 
finding such men. If the tenants made money, the 
owners made money also. A great deal depends 
on the men. The owner must be liberal. If he 
can find a tenant that is industrious, careful, sys¬ 
tematic, prompt, and forehanded, he can well 
afford to help him in every way in his power. In 
helping the tenant he is, of course, helping himself. 
In regard to what crops to put in on a rented 
Engraved for the American Agriculturist, 
all the work. If the oats yielded forty bushels per 
acre, and sold for thirty cents, the land owner got 
six dollars an acre rent. If the potatoes yielded 
one hundred and fifty bushels per acre and sold for 
forty cents per bushel, the landlord got thirty dol¬ 
lars an acre rent. You will say that the tenant also 
received thirty dollars per acre. True, but he spends 
more labor on the potatoes than on, the oats. 
The so-called garden crops, such as cabbages, 
onions, carrots, beets, rutabagas, turnips, celery, 
etc., all require considerable labor, and when 
raised on shares the land-owner, if a fair yield is 
obtained, gets a high rent for his land. He can af¬ 
ford to furnish all the manure and all the seed, 
and in fact should do so, and be liberal in lend¬ 
ing the use of plows, cultivators, drills, etc. If 
good crops are obtained, both parties will do well. 
Broad-leaved 'Evergreens, Holly, etc. —The 
few broad-leaved evergreen shrubs, native to the 
Northern States—the holly, the laurels, inkberry, 
etc., are so desirable for cultivation, that they are 
often transplanted from their native localities to 
the grounds. "When thus transplanted, these fail 
so generally, that some have the impression that 
only plants grown in the nursery will succeed. 
; by one of our editors in his daily drives around 
New York in quest of interesting things for his 
! readers. Our artists herewith present a spirited 
I engraving from designs furnished us by the Park 
; Commissioners of this intended woody locality, 
which is to be named Crotona Park. Each of the 
; established, as well as the proposed parks around 
; New York, has its distinguishing features. In Cen- 
; tral Park, for example, the prevailing natural 
j features are massive rocks, while the conspicuous 
1 artificial embellishments are bridges, of which 
, there are many fine examples. Crotona Park, as 
may be seen by the engraving, will be more like 
the English parks, in being heavily wooded. A 
j large portion of the tract only needs to have road- 
j ways cut through it, and a judicious thinning out 
j of the trees for the benefit of those that remain, to 
j adapt it to park uses at once. This brings to mind 
j a fine private park we visited in a Western State. A 
farmer who had a large maple orchard, or “Sugar 
Bush,” as he called it, had cut away all the under¬ 
growth, laid out roads and converted his tract into 
as fine a park as one need have, while it was all the 
I more convenient for its original use—a source 
of sweetning. This affords a suggestion to many 
other farmers who are so fortunate as to possess 
‘ maple groves. Let them be made into parks. 
