GENERAL FARM MANAGEMENT. 
301 
It is intended that the following remarks shall be strictly 
practical, yet without being at variance with well-established 
principles of agricultural science; for good practice and true 
science must always be in harmony with each other, since the 
first is but the offspring or developement of the second. It is 
also intended that they shall be the result in good part of per¬ 
sonal experience and observation; and it shall be my aim, as I 
prefer a short essay to a tedious treatise, to make them as con¬ 
cise as sense and language will permit, as well as to make them 
particularly applicable to the present condition of agriculture 
in Wisconsin. 
Taking for granted that a desirable farm has been bought 
and paid for, and that sufficient capital is left to make the ne¬ 
cessary improvements, as well as to carry on properly the sub¬ 
sequent operations of the farm, I shall now proceed to the con¬ 
sideration of those improvements. However, as most western 
farms have but scanty improvements on them, and those of a 
rather dubious nature, and such as probably the enterprising 
proprietor would rather wish had not been made at all, I shall, 
for the sake of greater latitude of discussion, and a greater 
degree of elucidation, presume the farm to have none at all. 
I shall suppose the size of the farm to be about 160 acres, 
knowing that to be large enough for most farmers, and much 
too large for a great many. Owning too much land is a crying 
evil under the western sun, and one that will, if not checked by 
some means, speedily impoverish the whole country, especially 
the agricultural portion of it. While the aggregate yield of 
the State is increasing, that per acre is diminishing, from which 
we may infer that the production of grain, and the deteriora¬ 
tion of the land, are going on with a corresponding ratio; and 
what will be the final result of this process, it requires no pro¬ 
phetic sagacity to predict. Could any one persuade the farm¬ 
ing community that it is more profitable and essential to raise 
large crops than to own too many acres, he would deserve well 
of his country, and might be safely numbered as one of her 
most signal benefactors. 
