1871 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
331 
ical effect of the addition of a large amount of 
decomposing vegetable matter, and in swamp 
muck we have it, finely divided, and capable 
of absorbing much concentrated matter. There¬ 
fore, as a basis of compost heaps, it is most ex¬ 
cellent. It should be taken out during the 
present month, and put in heaps to drain. The 
heaps should be made high aud narrow, in 
which shape the rain falling on them will be 
shed, and the muck kept dry, at least sufficiently 
so as to absorb large quantities of the liquids 
of the barn-vard. Two or three hundred loads 
of swamp muck would make a handsome pile 
of compost, when mixed with the manure of a 
pair of horses, four or five cows, a few hogs, 
sheep, etc.; and, spread on ten acres of grass 
land during winter and plowed in in spring, 
would bring a handsome crop of corn to com¬ 
mence with. That field might be considered 
out of leading strings, and able to stand alone 
until corn-time came around again, when it 
would be thankful for just such another supply. 
More Labor and Manure, and Less Land. 
It is a first-rate rule for farmers to take the 
world as they find it. There has been, for long 
years past, a disposition on the part of farmers 
at the East not “ to bear the ills they have,” but 
to “ fly to others that they know not of.” 
How large a proportion of those who have 
gone to people the far West have succeeded 
there, it is hardly worthwhile to inquire, for we 
can not know how many of the successful ones 
would have been successful here. They have 
certainly accomplished great good for the coun¬ 
try by their emigration. It is time now for 
those who are left behind to consider very care¬ 
fully what course their best interests indicate. 
It is fair to assume that no man moves West 
from motives of philanthropy. Whatever may 
be the effect of each one’s going, his own mo¬ 
tive is self-advancement—the sort of advance¬ 
ment that is represented by the accumulation of 
money, or money’s worth. They find land is dear 
and poor at the East, and that under the old 
system of farming it is difficult to make a liv¬ 
ing, and almost impossible to accumulate wealth. 
Disregarding the fact that they can get abun¬ 
dant labor, abundant manure, and cheap imple¬ 
ments, and that they have a good market at 
their doors, they are apt to stop short at the fact 
that, farming it as they do, their only chance 
lies in their getting more aud richer land, no 
matter where it may be. In our opinion, the 
time is past when an average, old-fashioned 
farmer, with his two or three sons, can make a 
satisfactory business of the cultivation of a large 
farm in New England, in the old-fashioned way. 
His own opinion, too, is apt to be the same, and 
he sends his sons to farm at the West, or to 
some other occupation than farming, nearer 
home. Instead of taking the world as he finds 
it, and making the best of it, lie tries to find a 
new world, hoping it may prove a better one. 
The writer of this article has had a long expe¬ 
rience in farming, and he has seen a great deal 
of the West as well as the East. He believes 
that the radical fault of Eastern agriculture is 
that we try to do a great deal too much, and so 
fail to do any thing well. And if, with his pres¬ 
ent conviction, he had to commence a life-long 
eareer, or to lay one out for his son, he would 
take a farm, chosen more with reference to its 
nearness to a good market and to manure than 
for its soil, and only so large that after putting 
the buildings and permanent improvements in 
order, he would have an available working capi¬ 
tal, in ready money, of $200 for every acre. 
Having this money, he would use it all in his 
business. Not one cent of it should be invested 
in stocks, or on bond aud mortgage. There 
might, under this plan, be only enough to work 
5 acres, or 10, or 20. No matter ; what acres he 
has should be well stocked, well manured, and 
well cultivated, and it would.certainly pay. It 
is demonstrated by the experience of hundreds 
of our farmers that it is only the good farming 
that pays. There is a point (varying according 
to the quality of the land and local circum¬ 
stances) where the production pays less than the 
interest on the value of the land and the cost of 
labor, manure, and superintendence. The secret 
of successf ul farming lies in turning this point on 
every field of the farm. Every acre the produce 
of which falls below it, is a tax on every 
acre the produce of which exceeds it, and, too 
often, farmers who raise splendid and most 
profitable crops on a part of their land, 
find their profits eaten up 
by the interest and expenses 
of the rest. Now, there 
is no land anywhere that 
may not, by the expendi¬ 
ture of money, be made fer¬ 
tile. There is little land that 
any practical man would 
think of cultivating at all, 
that might not profitably be 
made fertile by judicious ex¬ 
penditure; and probably the 
wise use of $200 per acre on 
a farm where the buildings, 
etc., are in good condition, 
even in Tock}' Connecticut, 
would make it a profitable 
one to cultivate. Conse¬ 
quently, if one has a well 
appointed farm of 100 acres 
witli good buildings, but no 
money, he would do well to sell 05 acres 
for $6,500, and use all the money in working 
the 35 acres that he retained. No two cases 
would be exactly alike, but it may be stated as 
a general proposition, that while he is now 
struggling to make both ends meet, and wasting 
interest money, labor, and manure on bis whole 
poorly-worked farm, he might get rich from the 
thorough cultivation of the well-worked part 
of it. 
Every place has some advantages, and the 
true plan is to appreciate and to make the most 
of these. The advantages of those who live at 
the East lie not in the land, but in the facilities 
for working it; consequently, their chance for 
profit lies not in the land, but in the facilities. 
They need only so much land as will enable them 
to turn these to the best account. If one acre 
will bring the largest net profit from all the 
facilities for cultivation and sale that they can 
command, then one acre is enough for them— 
better than two acres. 
This idea might be indefinitely enlarged 
upon, but it is sufficient to indicate it, and to 
allow each man to apply it to his own condition. 
If we are sure of any thing connected with 
farming, it is that We are absolutely right in our 
opinions as above expressed, and that whoever 
adopts them and follows them judiciously, will 
make money. 
An Egg Farm. 
by H. H. Stoddard.— Fifth Article. 
The slock used for hatching purposes is man¬ 
aged differently from the layers, and needs dif¬ 
ferent accommodations. Tiie houses for sitters, 
fig. 1, are near the center of the farm where the 
granary and cook-room are located. They ac¬ 
commodate 100 fowls each, are not movable, 
and are set upon a stone or brick underpinning, 
10 inches high. They are 10 feet 4 inches from 
the ground to the peak, and 20 feet long by way 
of the ridge, and 16 feet wide. The roofs are 
shingled, and the ends of the buildings covered 
with boards nailed upright and battened. The 
form of these houses, like that of all in the es¬ 
tablishment with eaves near the ground, is 
adapted to afford as much ground room as pos¬ 
sible in proportion to the lumber used. The 
roof of each house is crossed outside by a pick¬ 
et fence running at right angles with the ridge. 
This fence forms one side of the yard with which 
each house is furnished, and though it extends 
only 18 inches above the ridge of the building, 
the sitters, not being of a high-flying breed, will 
not get over it. By this arrangement exit is 
afforded to the fowls and to their keeper at 
Fig. 1. --HOUSE FOU SITTERS. 
either end of the building, into a yard which is 
located at either end on alternate years. The 
two ends of the house, one fronting east and 
the other west, are both provided exactly alike 
with doors and windows. The large doors are 
6‘/ a x 3 feet, opening outwards, and the smaller 
ones attached to them are 7x9 inches. The 
windows arc 2x3 feet, and arc hinged, opening 
upwards for ventilation. In hot weather the 
windows and doors in both ends of the build¬ 
ing are Opened wide, and to prevent the fowls 
escaping at the end where there is no yard, wire 
netting is fastened across the window casings 
inside, and there is an inside door of the same 
material hung to the stud to which the outside 
door is hinged. Fig. 2 gives an interior view 
of the house. There are four perches, each 15 
feet long, and of the width and thickness of 
those for layers. They are placed 18 inches 
higher than the top of the underpinning, those 
nearest the nests being 3y 2 feet, and those near¬ 
est the eaves 5y 4 feet from the center of the 
building. A space 2‘/ 2 feet wide at each end of 
the room is left unoccupied by the perches. 
Three tiers of nests occupy the center of the 
room, each tier consisting of two rows placed 
back to back, and running in the same direc¬ 
tion as the perches. There are 12 nests in each 
row, or 72 in all, and as each nest is 1 foot 
square and 1 foot high, they occupy 12 feet in 
length. This allows a space of 4 feet at each 
end of the building between the nests and the 
doors, and as the latter are planned of a suffi¬ 
cient widtli to admit a wheelbarrow, and the 
perches are made so as to be easily moved, op¬ 
portunity is afforded to wheel in or out the dry 
earth which fills the bottom of the room nearly 
