124 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
HOW TO IMPROVE A FARM. 
It would, we think, be safe to say that 
eight out of ten of the farmers of America 
would be benefitted, if one half of their farms 
could be, to-day, taken from them, and they 
be compelled to expend all their labor, ma¬ 
nure and money on the moity remaining. 
Our lands are seldom thoroughly plowed, 
whether we regard depth of tilth, or pulveri¬ 
zation . ;They are (one may s ay always) insuffi¬ 
ciently or improperly manured. The quanti¬ 
ty of manure to be applied to the acre is de¬ 
cided by the amount of land under the plow ; 
in the stead of tilling no more than could be 
sufficiently manured and otherwise properly 
cared for. Then, work pressing, the manure 
lies, spread and speeding away, for days, 
oftentimes, before it is plowed under. Then 
the crops are sold, not when the market price 
is at its height; but just as soon as the farm¬ 
er can get the money for them. 
These things should not be. A farmer 
requires capital, as does the manufacturer or 
the merchant, that he may judiciously invest 
it in his business ; in labor or manure ; or in 
live stock, and farm implements ; in repair¬ 
ing what is broken, and rectifying what is 
wrong ; in seeding at the right time ; and 
generally, in doing all things at the proper 
moment, and in the proper manner. Two 
acres well cultivated, and well cared for, will 
produce more net profit, than ten that have 
been poorly tilled and poorly tended. 
We all agree upon the resultant benefit of 
deep plowing, yet few farmers plow deep. 
Six inches is a poorly generous average for 
the depth of a New-England furrow. We 
all agree that it is wise to house, or otherwise 
protect from wind and rain, our deposits of 
manure; but do we doit? We differ little 
in our appreciation of the value of drainage ; 
but how few are the ditches. In this way 
we could go through with a table of contents 
of “ the whole duty of man on a farm;” and 
show, that while many are wise in word, 
few are wise in deed. We are of the breed 
of the undutiful son, who said, “ I go,” but 
budged not an inch. 
Any one of these reasons is sufficient to 
account for the comparatively poor return, 
which farmers obtain for their labor, care, 
and diligence in the tillage of the soil. 
The agriculture of Rhode Island may be 
fairly taken as the average standard of New- 
England ; whether we speak of the know¬ 
ledge and skill brought to bear upon it, or of 
the per-acre products of the land under til¬ 
lage. For, while it is confessedly inferior 
to the best, it is far from being the worst. 
In 1850, the Agricultural Society of Rhode 
Island induced the United States Assistant 
Marshals, for a consideration, to collect for 
them the agricultural statistics, that had 
been omitted in the Census Tables. By 
these returns it appeared, that the average 
product, per acre, of various crops was as 
follows : Of Indian corn, thirty and a half 
bushels; of rye, twelve and three-quarter 
bushels; of onions, four hundred bushels; 
of carrots four hundred bushels. 
Any farmer is capable of calculating for 
himself the cost of growing an acre of each 
of these crops, and he may pronounce, for 
me, whether Agriculture in Rhode-Island 
paid its way. If, then, the average of the 
crops, as above, paid little, if anything, more 
than the expense of production; and the 
yield of that State is a fair average sample 
(and why is it not ?) of the yield of New- 
England ; we may safely set it down as set¬ 
tled, that if farming in our section does pay, 
it yet does not yield such an immense per- 
centum per annum, as to cause a rush from 
the other professions. 
The agricultural statistics of this State 
(which, as we have remarked, is the only 
one whose agricultural statistics are com¬ 
plete and reliable,) show that the largest 
yield of carrots in the State, in theyear 1850 
(a bad year, for root crops, by the way, be¬ 
cause of the drouth) was one thousand 
bushels to the acre ; while the average yield 
was four hundred bushels, and the least, 
amount to seventy-five bushels ; all told. Of 
onions, the largest crop was six hundred 
bushels; the average, four hundred ; and the 
smallest, one hundred bushels, to the acre. 
Of Indian corn, the largest yield per acre, 
was one hundred bushels; the average, 
thirty and a half bushels ; and the least, six. 
Of rye, the largest crop grown on an acre, 
was forty bushels ; the average was twelve 
and three-quarters ; and the smallest was— 
what think ye ?—just three bushels ! 
Now, though we can easily see that it will 
well pay to gather these maximum crops, if 
economically produced, we can scarcely be¬ 
lieve, that they more than make the two ends 
of the year meet, who raise but the average ; 
while how the wolf is kept from the door of 
those, who persist in getting such crops as 
six bushels, of corn, or three bushels of rye, 
passes our comprehension. Three bushels 
of rye! Six bushels of corn ! Why, they 
will scarcely suffice to feed the mice, that 
“ most do congregate ” in the granaries of 
such thriftless farmers. 
We are, of course, aware that all soils #re 
not to grow one hundred bushels of corn to 
the acre, and other crops in proportion. But 
they are very poor specimens of land, that 
will not, with good tillage, yield more than 
the averages above stated. Indeed, so far is 
it, in most instances, from being the fault of 
the land, that I feel safe in asserting, that, 
on an exchange of farms, the three-bushel 
farmer would, in a majority of cases, bring 
the land whereon was raised the forty bush¬ 
els of rye, down to the average , in about the 
same time that a forty-bushel farmer would 
require to raise his bad bargain up to the 
average. [Practical Farmer. 
FARMERS GOING WEST. 
During the past year there has been a 
large increase of emigration from the East¬ 
ern, Middle and Northern States to the West. 
The agricultural prosperity of Michigan, Illi¬ 
nois, Wisconsin, Indiana and Iowa—and the 
opening of Minnesota, Kansas and Nebraska, 
by which the rich soil and fine climate of 
those Territories are becoming patent to the 
people of the whole country—have very natu¬ 
rally attracted the attention of the people of 
the East, and induced either direct emigra¬ 
tion, or, with that view, personal investiga¬ 
tion. The high prices of farming lands in 
Western New-York, and other superior agri¬ 
cultural districts, and desirable localities, in 
this and other States, and the comparative 
cheapness of improved or partially improved 
farms situated on or near railroads or navi¬ 
gable streams in the Western States hereto¬ 
fore named, have given an impetus to agri¬ 
cultural emigration—while the favorable re¬ 
ports concerning the new territories have 
exercised a powerful influence in the same 
direction. Within a few months hundreds 
of persons who own farms of from 50 to 100 
acres, have disposed of them at the advanced 
rates, ($50 to $150 per acre,) and purchased, 
at a comparatively trifling cost, large farms 
or tracts of unimproved land in the West. 
A portion of this emigration has been caused 
by the grasping disposition of many of our 
wealthy farmers, whose desire to own “ all 
the land that joins them,” has induced the 
purchase of adjoining farms at unusually 
high figures—a course not generally produc¬ 
tive of benefit to community, or calculated to 
enchance Rural Improvement. In old sec¬ 
tions, where land is dear, fields small and 
devoted to mixed husbandry, large farms are 
neither desirable nor the most profitable, and 
hence we regret the diminution of the num¬ 
ber of soil owners and cultivators. 
In some localaties the western fever is 
superinduced by poor farming, and the con¬ 
sequent deterioration and barrenness of the 
soil—naturally rich and fertile lands being 
worn out by the “ skinning system ” and gen¬ 
eral mismanagement. Those who do not 
believe in, or at least will not adopt, deep 
plowing, manuring, rotation, and other im¬ 
provements—men who “ know the right and 
still the wrong pursue ”—find that their mode 
of farming don't pay ; and, being too stupid 
to improve, or having too great a veneration 
for ancestors to depart from their stereotyped 
practices, are either obliged to sell and seek 
a virgin soil, or suffer both poverty and re¬ 
proach. Such people—we will not call 
them farmers—of course benefit a district by 
leaving, (even if they depart secretly, between 
two days,) and generally advance their own 
interests—a change mutually satisfactory to 
themselves and community ! Their exodus 
makes room for far better farmers and citi¬ 
zens. True, those who thus depart are not 
of the right stamp and mettle to settle in a 
new country yet it is hoped their posterity 
at least will be benefitted by a change which 
may lead to improvement. 
Among others, the reasons already men¬ 
tioned are inducing a strong tide of emigra¬ 
tion westward, and naturally causing consid¬ 
erable inquiry as to the best locations for 
farming. We are in frequent receipt of let¬ 
ters soliciting information relative to the 
topography, soil, climate, &c., of various sec¬ 
tions of the West, which we are unable to 
answer definitely from personal knowledge 
and observation—and feel incompetent to 
speak advisedly, as we are often requested 
to do, concerning the particular advantages 
of this or that Western State or Territory, 
compared with another, or with Western 
New-York. There are so many items to be 
considered, not a few of which are estimated 
differently by differeut individuals, that even 
those best informed arrive at opposite con¬ 
clusions. For instance, one looks mainly 
for a rich soil, another for a healthy locality, 
another for society and religious and educa¬ 
tional privileges, while others have different 
objects in view. 
Compared with Western New-York, we 
hold and firmly believe, there is no district 
of equal extent which combines so many ad¬ 
vantages—soil, climate, society, churches, 
schools, morality, intelligence and enterprise 
of the people, markets, facilities for travel, 
&c., &c. Of course no one expects all these 
at the West, and hence those who propose 
moving should seek a locality embracing the 
advantages considered of first importance in 
their estimation. Were we asked to desig¬ 
nate Avhat Western States we consider best 
for farming purposes, with other advantages 
usually esteemed by the people of this region, 
we should name Michigan, Wisconsin and 
Iowa. The latter is progressing more rapid¬ 
ly, probably, than any other, and presents 
many inducements to young men of enter¬ 
prise and limited means. Many sections of 
Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois, and some 
parts of Indiana, are desirable for those who 
wish to obtain improved or partially improved 
farms, at comparatively low prices, in good 
neighborhoods, and with educational and re¬ 
ligious privileges. 
In regard to the new Territories, we should 
prefer Kansas, though Minnesota, has its ad¬ 
vantages. Our impression is that Iowa and 
Kansas are at this moment the most desira¬ 
ble points for young men, and women too, of 
limited means, if properly imbued with en¬ 
terprise and determination. 
[Rural New-Yorker. 
Small and steady gains give competency 
with tranquility of mind. 
