A MONTHLY PUBLICATKLN, DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE. 
Vol. IV. ALBANY, OCTOBER, 1837. No. 8. 
PUBLISHED BY THE N. Y. STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
J. BUEL, Conductor. 
ICT Office No. 3 Washinglon-street, opposite Congress Hall, 
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(p= The Cultivator, according to the decision of the Post-master General, is 
subject only to newspaper postage, viz: one cent on each number within the 
state, and within one hundred miles from Albany, out of the state—and one 
and a half cents on each number, to any other part of the Union. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
TO IMPROVE THE SOUL AND THE MIND. 
FARMING CAPITAL. 
The success and profits of farming depend very much upon the com¬ 
mand of farming capital, and upon its judicious application. We have not 
now reference to that system of exhausting husbandry,—which has seri¬ 
ously impoverished the old cultivated districts of our country, and which 
is fast impoverishing those more recently brought under culture—but to 
the new system, which not only aims at the largest profits upon the out¬ 
lay, but keeps in view the augmentation, or at least the preservation, of 
the natural fertility of the soil. It is easier to preserve fertility, than to 
restore it to a soil which has become exhausted by injudicious cropping. 
There are two prominent faults in American farming—we cultivate too 
much land, for the capital employed—and in the second place, we do not 
take the right method of preserving fertility, by alternating crops, and by 
blending cattle with tillage husbandry. The consequence of the first is, 
that none of the land is so well, or profitably cultivated as it ought to be. 
By keeping a portion of our land under the plough, and almost wholly in 
grain crops—and another portion in “ natural ” meadow, the profits of 
culture are constantly diminishing, and the land is ultimately “ wornout 
while the deterioration is accelerated by the want of farm stock to con¬ 
vert the forage into manure, and the want, of economy and judgment in 
saving and applying the little manure that is made. 
To keep land in good heart, or to augment fertility, it is essential, among 
other things, to consume the main products upon the farm, in order that 
the dung, which the farm stock makes, shall keep the land, rich ;—that 
the land be well drained, that it may develope all its resources, which it 
can never do if water reposes either upon, or within eighteen inches of 
the surface;—and that it be kept clean. All these matters, as farm stock, 
draining, and clean tillage, require labor and capital. Instead, however, 
of laying out the profits of a farm to keep it good, or improve its condi¬ 
tion, these profits are generally applied to the enlargement of its size, to 
speculation, or to some purpose foreign to the preservation of fertility, or 
to the improvement of the soil. 
The capital required for the profitable management of a farm, depends 
much upon the quality of the soil, the nature of the husbandry which is 
adopted upon it, and the state of the market. It is a well established fact, 
that farm stock can be purchased cheaper, and labor and every thing else 
had upon better terms—for cash, than on credit. And it is equally 
a self-evident proposition, that he who is obliged to sell the products of 
his farm, to meet current expenses, seldom obtains so fair a price, as he 
who can choose his time and his market for the sale of his produce. The 
farmer, therefore, who keeps the ready means in reserve, that he may 
buy and sell when it best suits his interest, has a manifest advantage over 
him who buys upon credit, and sells from necessity. But it is principally 
in reference to the improvement of the farm, and the consequent in¬ 
crease of the profifs of the labor which is bestowed upon it, that farming 
capital is particularly desirable. If, by a moderate expenditure in making 
land rich, and dry and clean, we can double its products, we effect a sav¬ 
ing of one-half of our labor; or, in other words, we obtain as much from 
the fifty improved acres, as we do from one hundred acres in the old way, 
and with half the labor. 
As pertinent to thi3 subject, we subjoin some extracts from British 
Husbandry, persuaded that the remarks they contain apply to American 
with almost as great force as they do to British husbandry. 
“ There is no mistake more common,” says our authority, “ than that 
of supposing, that the more land a man holds, the greater must be his pro¬ 
fits; for the profit does not arise from the land itself, but from the manner 
of using it: the best soil may be made unproductive by bad management, 
NO. 8—VOL. IV. 
while the worst maybe rendered profitable by the opposite course; but 
without sufficient capital no land can be properly cultivated. There is 
nothing to which capital can be applied with greater certainty of a fair re¬ 
turn for its liberal expenditure, when correctly employed, than land; but, 
on the other hand, there is nothing more ruinous, when the capital is 
either insufficient, or injudiciously laid out. In fact,—assuming always 
that the expenditure be directed with judgment—it will be found that the 
profit upon the outlay increases, in more than a proportionate degree to its 
amount: thus, supposing five pounds to be the lowest, and ten the high¬ 
est sum that can be employed in the common culture of the same acre of 
land, it is more than probable that, if the five pounds return at the rate of 
ten per cent, the ten will yield twenty, or any intermediate sum, at the 
same progressive ratio. Now, admitting that to be true,—and it is pre¬ 
sumed that no experienced agriculturist will doubt it,—it follows, that 
1000/. expended in the cultivation of 200 acres, will only yield a profit of 
100/ while, if applied to no more than 100 acres, it would produce 
2001.; wherefore, although a farmer of limited capital may not be driven 
to the extremity we have already supposed, [distress, duns and final ruin 
consequent upon deficiency of stock, imperfect tillage and scanty crops,] 
and although he may be able to carry on his business with a certain de¬ 
gree of advantage, it is yet evident that his profit would be increased by 
diminishing the quantity of his land. Many a one has been ruined by a 
large farm, who might have acquired a competency with one of half the 
size. It therefore behooves a man to weigh w T ell the charges with his 
means, and not allow himself to be seduced by any ideal prospect of gain, 
into the imprudence of entering upon a larger farm than his property will 
enable him to manage with the spirit necessary to ensure success. 
“ Much larger'capital than was formerly requisite has become indispen¬ 
sable since the general adoption of the alternate system of husbandry; for 
the foundation of that system, and of all good farming, is the support of 
more live stock than was possible when the land was brought round to the 
reproduction of corn [grain] by means of repeated fallows, instead of green 
crops. The charges, being thus confined to those incidental to mere til¬ 
lage, were comparatively iight; whereas, now, there are arable farms 
without an acre of pasture, except perhaps a paddock for cows, on which 
live stock is kept to an amount far beyond the sum required for cultiva¬ 
tion. But the produce is proportionally large; and more corn and meat 
are obtained from inferior soils in Norfolk, and other counties where the 
same plan is pursued, than from some of the best land in the kingdom un¬ 
der less spirited management. It is quite manifest that the more cattle 
and sheep are well maintained upon any given space of ground, the better 
will it be manured; and therefore, of two farmers, each possessing the 
same quantity of land, and devoting the same portion of it to grain, he 
who can support the most live stock, will not only realize the customary 
profits of that stock, but will also grow the most corn. 
“ Except in situations where extraneous manure can be procured, it is 
only by the union of feeding and tillage, that land can be retained in a 
high degree of fertility. Were the system, therefore, more generally 
adopted—especially on poor soils—of laying down a considerable part to 
grass, .there can be no doubt that, if again broken up, its productive pow¬ 
ers would be found improved, through the meliorating effects of pasturage 
and rest; and while the gross produce would be thereby ultimately in¬ 
creased, it would so far diminish the expenses of labor, as in many cases 
to counterbalance the cost of the stock. The farmer who has the means, 
as well as the discernment, to make some of the various branches of graz¬ 
ing, or the dairy, an essential part of his business, and thus nurses a por¬ 
tion of his land, preserves the tillage in constant heart with the additional 
manure; and although the gross amount of corn produced may be less than 
if more ground were under the plough, yet the acreable produce will cer¬ 
tainly be greater, and the deficiency will more than be made up by the 
supply of cheese and butter, and of flesh. He also divides his risk, so 
that, in the event of an unfavorable harvest, the loss upon his ciops will 
probably be reimbursed by the profit on his cattle. It is a common ob¬ 
servation, that graziers and dairymen are the most regular rent-payers; to 
which it may be added, that the bane of all necessitous farmers, and the 
ruin of land, are under-stocking and over-cropping. 
“ The multitude of circumstances to be considered,—each in some de¬ 
gree varying upon every farm, and with every farmer—preclude the pos¬ 
sibility of forming any calculation that would be precisely applicable to 
every case; but, presuming the land to be of medium quality, and under 
an ordinary course of cultivation, the live stock to be of a good descrip¬ 
tion, and the implements new, the requisite amount cannot be computed 
at less than from 71. to 10/. per acre. Less might perhaps do, and in ma¬ 
ny cafees no doubt is made to do. An active, intelligent man, who watch¬ 
es opportunities for picking up bargains of stock and implements, who is 
in tolerable credit, and is ingenious in devising expedients to supply the 
