The Business Side of Agriculture. 
Which More Useful—Science or Instinct? 
T heory and practice.—T his is the day of 
much resort to science in the farmer’s inter¬ 
est. The agricultural colleges and experiment sta¬ 
tions, and the National Department of Agriculture, 
are constantly seeking to solve, scientifically, prob¬ 
lems of the soil, of fertilization, of plant and animal 
husbandry, etc., and their results are available to 
us all, and often most 
valuable. Farming, how¬ 
ever, to be successful, 
depends upon other fac¬ 
tors as well as upon 
science. As the chem¬ 
ist is not a physician, 
necessarily, so one pos¬ 
sessing agricultur- 
a 1 science in theory 
may not be a farmer, 
and able to grow crops 
and to sell them at a 
profit that will support 
a family. This, it 
seems to the writer, is 
the real test of success¬ 
ful farming, which is a 
science, truly, but also 
an art; and most sure¬ 
ly a business proposi¬ 
tion. Are not business 
methods and business 
ability oftenest the lim¬ 
iting factors of the 
farmer’s equipment to¬ 
day, and his difficulties 
more in the field of 
economy t h an of 
science? 
A BUSINESS FARM. 
—In September last I 
visited a farm near 
Worcester, Mass., that 
is most successfully car¬ 
ried on upon these al¬ 
lied principles of 
science, art and busi¬ 
ness management; and 
from that visit, and 
others, have come the 
thoughts above and 
others to follow in this 
w r i t i n g. Worcester 
County has some of the 
best of farm land ; and 
the strength of Mr. S.’s 
soil was shown by its 
standing crops, its grass 
bottom, and especially 
by its trees, fine an¬ 
cient apple tree, near 
the house, which was in 
full bloom this present 
season (as shown in Fig. 338) has a circumference 
of 17 feet at the base; and is nearly 200 years old. 
The top does not show its size formerly, as ice and 
gales have broken it away considerably. Such trees 
do not grow upon poor soil. A nobly large smooth 
field that we saw later, belonging to a married son 
(two of three sons are farming), had a border along 
the wall of great Baldwin trees, high-headed and 
hard to reach with ladders, but fine specimens of 
tree growth and then loaded with fruit; which 
showed again the possibilities of this section for or¬ 
charding, and fa 
apple trees here, 
five years. 
SWEET CORN.—For this iUl'IIl 1 bllsiness, Mr. S. 
keeps about 15 cows: raised a large tonnage of hay 
to feed and sell, and besides cabbages, in the vege¬ 
table line, grows a large acreage of sweet corn, 
which he plants so as to have it to market contin¬ 
uously through the corn season of eight or 10 weeks. 
Fig. 331) gives us one of his hay fields. Every week 
A Cornfield in Schoharie County, N. Y. Fig. 336. 
day in August and September a load of sweet corn, 
with other vegetables, is taken into Worcester, about 
seven miles distant, and sold to the markets there. 
The price received for the corn is liberal, being 
based upon its quality, freshness, and regular sup¬ 
ply. As I had myself for years supplied, by con¬ 
tract, some leading restaurants of Boston with 
sweet corn morning-picked, and delivered but three 
or four hours from the field, I was interested to 
learn his receipts, which were fully up to mine, 
though my goods went direct to the consumer. In 
growing this crop, he is an expert. Manure is har¬ 
rowed in when it is available, and always chemical 
fertilizers used liberally. Three, or at most four, 
stalks are allowed to a hill, and suckers, if num¬ 
erous, are removed. Rows are three feet apart, 
and hills two to three feet, according to the size 
of the variety. The fodder, after picking the 
market corn, is cut and stacked to cure for cattle 
feed, as he uses no silo. 
HAY AND FRUIT.—Grass is another crop pro¬ 
fessionally raised, and 
large yields of hay per 
acre are obtained from 
his methods and his 
large use of chemical 
fertilizers both at seed¬ 
ing time and for top¬ 
dressing his hay fields. 
Milk is sold at the 
farm. A garden patch 
o f strawberries h a s 
shown such a heavy 
yield of berries under the 
intensive care given here 
to all crops, that Mr. 8. 
will plan for planting 
larger beds. lie has 
fruit from some blocks 
of old trees; and though 
now over (50, he is set¬ 
ting young orchards. 
One of these that I saw 
was all that could be 
desired in site, in soil, 
in stock, and in care 
given to it. My only 
question with his plan 
was as to use of fillers, 
which I should have 
put in, at least one way, 
in his 40-feet spaces. 
FARM BUILDINGS. 
—A farmer is usually 
known by his buildings. 
The picture at Fig 340, 
page 915, shows the 
home site with house 
and barn. More recent¬ 
ly some shrubbery has 
been added to the front 
yard, in which our 
host, we found, justly 
took much pride. The 
product and proof of 
good farming is in the 
home. That here, we 
noticed, had all conven¬ 
iences and all furnish¬ 
ings for family comfort, 
enjoyment and culture. 
At their table we found 
the best of New Eng¬ 
land country fare, well 
seasoned with conversa¬ 
tion from a normal and agreeable family group; 
and the thought came to me then, “Here, truly, is 
good farming. What are the factors upon which it 
is based?” For it is not a personal tribute that is 
in mind, but a study of means to an end, that may 
have interest to members of The R. N.-Y. family. 
FACTORS IN SUCCESS.—Good soil is one item 
of success here, and favorable market location (but 
a few miles from Worcester) is another. With 
these, and his plan of regular supply of special 
crops and his salesmanship, he gets, not 35%, but 
VOL. LX XIV, No. 4315. 
WEEKLY $1.00 PER YEAR. 
