1847 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
27 
MANAGEMENT IN FARMING. 
The present is a very appropriate season for a review 
of the past operations of the farm, and devising plans 
for the future. Every one who has not yet reached the 
highest summit of agricultural skill and perfection, will, 
doubtless, wish to make continual advances towards 
that desirable accomplishment, and the direction of the 
attention of such to some points in practice, may possi¬ 
bly be of value. 
The great secret of success in all kinds of business— 
the reason why one man becomes rich, while another 
remains poor—is, management. A great deal is said 
of the importance of capital to begin with, and it is in¬ 
deed a very great convenience. We know many 
voung farmers who utter frequent regrets that they 
have not as fair a start as some others—they could, as 
they think, do wonders if they had plenty of means as a 
beginning. But regrets do not make money. Every 
one knows, that he who does not reap large profits 
from a liberal capital furnished him, must be a poor 
manager indeed. The man who has a hundred acres 
of land, with one thousand dollars as additional capital, 
may farm much more satisfactorily than he who has 
the same amount of land encumbered with a thousand 
dollars debt. He is two thousand better off, and would 
be much the worse manager of the two, if his profits 
from the same land were not decidedly the greatest. 
That man shows his skill pre-eminently, who, instead 
of repining at difficulties, surmounts them ; who, by 
superior management, keeps pace with his longer-pursed 
neighbor. 
“But,” say some, when they hear of an improved 
mode of farming, “we know this is the best practice, 
but the fact is, we cannot pursue it—we have not the 
means, and we cannot get it—we are not rich enough 
to be thus economical.” Now, we hope such persons 
will permit us to say, that this conclusion proceeds from 
a want of information. A certain young farmer’s ex¬ 
penditures are three hundred dollars yearly ; and after 
the most rigid economy in every particular, so that a 
single dollar could not be retrenched, he saves nothing. 
Another young farmer, with the same means precisely, 
and with equal economy, saves two hundred yearly. 
What is the reason of this difference ? What the secret 
of the better success of the latter ? The answer 
is-— a better application of the same means.—or in 
other words, better management. Hence, the vast im¬ 
portance of understanding the best application of means. 
We will venture to suggest a few of the particulars 
in which we think many of our farmers might make 
more or less improvement—some of them very decided¬ 
ly so. 
One of the first of these is, a neat and judicious lay¬ 
ing out of their farms,-—for economy in fencing j for 
convenience of access to all their fields ; and in such a 
manner, that each crop may occupy as nearly as possi¬ 
ble its own field, so as to admit of a good system of 
rotation. Hence, the lane or farm-road should be good, 
hard, and level, to admit of easy cartage of manure and 
crops, to and from all the fields. Hence, too, if the 
land varies in quality, that of similar character must be 
as nearly as practicable in the same enclosure, so that 
meadow and pasture may comprise the wet, and arable 
land the dry, and the most sterile may be brought, sepa¬ 
rately, into an enriching course. A farm so laid out, 
that cattle may obtain water of themselves, may save 
whole weeks of labor in driving them to water, &c., 
every year. Indeed, the saving of labor by a well laid 
out farm, can hardly be estimated in the multifarious 
operations constantly taking place, 
j A careful saving, manufacture, and good application 
of manure, would promote a great improvement with 
many. Much of the value of the products of the barn¬ 
yard are lost from want of a good supply of straw, 
dried muck or peat, to absorb the liquid portions. 
Much is lost by its wrong application, and especially 
by the want of its thorough admixture with the soil by 
repeated plowings and harrowings. From our own 
personal observations, we are perfectly satisfied, that 
the benefits from manure might be very easily tripled 
on nine-tenths of the farms of the northern states. We 
do not mean here to include, at all, those who suffer 
their manure to remain in the yard five years, till nine- 
tenths is lost by fermentation and vapor ; nor those who 
do not apply it at all; nor the man who built his hog¬ 
pen across a stream, that the cleanings might be con¬ 
veniently shoveled into the water and washed away. 
Manure may be even well applied, and well mixed with 
the soil, and then wasted by an exhausting course. 
A careful, constant, and vigorous attention to weeds, 
would work wonders on some farms. There are two 
modes of disposing of these costly intruders ;—one, is 
to destroy them thoroughly when only an inch high, 
when the work may be very easily and effectually done, 
and before the soil and crop have been injured by their 
growth ; and the other, is to allow them to get a foot 
high, thus doing great damage, and then to make an 
assault upon them at an enormous expense. “0, but 
we did not intend to have suffered the weeds to get so 
large, but we were backward in our work, and were 
disappointed in our hired help.” But you must remem¬ 
ber that good management causes a man to take time 
by the forelock—or. to speak more strongly and rough¬ 
ly, to take him by the snout;—and you must endeavor 
to secure such help as will not disappoint you. Many 
farmers err by attempting to do a great deal with a 
little help ; the consequence is, every thing is hurried, 
and every thing behind-hand,—and then, more help 
must be ultimately hired, or the work neglected at still 
greater loss. Would it not be cheaper to hoe an acre 
of carrots with three days’ work, while the weeds are 
as yet no longer than small feathers, than to hoe them 
with ten days’ work, when the weeds have attained a 
growth of two tons to the acre ? It would be cheaper 
to hire a man in time, at double price, and pay him 
with borrowed money at eighty per cent interest, than 
to permit the delay—though neither are necessary. 
We need not here go into a minute examination of 
all the various items of good and bad management, which 
have been elsewhere fully treated of; but we may mere¬ 
ly recall a few things to remembrance. The loss of hay 
and other food of sheep and cattle, by their exposure in 
open fields to cold winds in winter, causing a consump¬ 
tion of nearly double the amount needed for them in 
warm places, would, in a single season, be enough to 
erect good and cheap shelters, to say nothing of the im¬ 
proved condition of the animals, and security from loss 
by death. A great saving would often result by taking 
pains to select fine animals to breed from. A fine and 
handsome animal is as easily raised as a bad and ugly 
one, and frequently commands a double price in market. 
A similar advantage would result from selection of 
seed. Many days labor may be annually avoided, by 
procuring the very best tools, where they are such as 
are much in use. A vast amount of valuable time, and 
