Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1822-02-23

near tins city, which rent for nine or ten dol
lars per acre, should not estimate the ave-
rage rent of cleared land with improvements,
within the district just mentioned, at more
than two or three dollars. In Italy, in Eng
land, and in Scotland, lands not particularly
favored by vicinity to markets, rent for from
sixteen to twenty dollars, and in the neighbor-
hood OF large cities, from thirty, TO forty dol
lars.
The causes of this inferority may be ascrib-
ed To two characteristics of our farming--a dis
prnportionate capital and AN efficient cultiva-
ton. The first is striking deficiency. Agri-
culture, though very common, is moi,
think, Il favourite pursuit in Pennsy lvan;a II
attracts few from the other classes, and its
ranks are rather thnned nv desertion than
recruited by volunteers. The entcrprizins
shun it for IFS inactivity the gay from its
loneliness the prudent, from its unproduc-
tiveness; so that athougha great proportion
OF the wealth 0fthe state is fixed in land, an
exceedingly small capital is devoted to farm
ing. We 600 often exhaust our means in
purchasing farm, leaving scarcely any re-
sources FOR stocking and cnItivating it. Now
an English farmer, with certain capital, rents
farm, as manufacturer rents house, and
devotes his capital to extract from it the great
est possible produce. Accordingly his pro-
ceedings seem almost incredible to the pos
SCISSORS of large American farms. 1t has be-
come settled maxim of English husbandry,
That before occupying good arabic land, Il ca
pltal OF from thirty to forty dollars per acre is
necessary. On an estate Of three hundred a
eres, therefore, farmer begins by expending,
IN preparations, nine thousand dollars and
his annual disbursements, in ahour, manure,
and other articles, are about Eve thousand dot
ilrs year. His operations are on a proper
tiOnate scale. To contract to pay rent of
twenty or thirty thousand to expend i'm
single year, on lime alone, eleven thousand
dollars To pay two thousand dollars year
Tor rapc-cake to manure turnips; to make a
compost heap, costing four thousand dollars
such are the combinations Of wealth and skill
which produce good husbandry These we
cannot, and we need not, initiate. But they
may teach us that we should measure our en-
terpr1zes byour means and that an i'll stock
ed farm can no more be profitable than an
empty factory. Men praise THE bounty of IA
lure 1t Is much safer to rely on her Justice,
(which as rarely fails Ia reward our care as to
ilvenge Our neglect. Our farms then, though
small, are generally too large for our capitals {;
that is, we work badly too much ground, in
stead of cutivating well little. In the esti-
mates of finance, two and two do not always
make iour-in the arithmetic OF agriculture,
two are generally more than four. 1t won
deriul, indeed, how profusey small spot of
ground will Reward good husbandry. There
are IN Italy hundreds and thousands of peo-
pie, hving ON farms of from four to ten acres,
and paying to the owner one-thrd, or one
halt, of the produce. The whole straw for
the LcShOrn bonnets, by the expectation of
which in "A single year five hundred thousand
dollars were gained, would grow on two acres.
There are IN Switzerland some hill sides,
formed into terraces, which have sold for two
Thousand dollars aa acre and In fortunate
Spots Tor gardening, as near London, Il single
acre "lll yield clear profit of from eight To
nine hundred dollars a year. These EXAMPLES
may perhaps explain, how without the great
capitals of England and without diminishing
our farms, we may gradually render them
richer and more productive by judicious cul-
fure
The characteristic merit of modern farming
seems to be this: The old practice was to
draw from land successive grain crops, and
sf't7n .eare II TO recruit strength enough for a
repetition OF them. The modern system
seeks TO restore the soil, but by variety
make one crop be followed by another, feed
Ing ON different parts or at different depths of
the soil from the preceding. 1t has, therefore
tor fallows, substituted root crops. These
support large quantities of cattle, which be-
sides the direct profit from them afford the
lneana OF returning sooner and more SUCCESS
fully to the grain crops.
NOW, the defects OF our husbandry have re-
Iation to this system.
LIST. We have not studied sufficiently our
soil, with view To establish iudicious rota-
ton OF crops, Nor adapted our cultivation to
our climate. As AN example, / doubt whether
we appreciate our lOng autumn, the finest of
all our seasons, to which husbandry as vet
triists so little, but which would often enable
us 10 draw Il second and valuable crop OF
roots after grain. From the result of perso-
nal experiments made with that vie W, which
better farmers would, of course, practise more
successfully, incline to think, that there are
lew OF our good fields from which we could
not obtain considerable crops of roots, planted
and gathered after harvest. Why indeed
should we not, when they are constantly OBJ
tanned IN Spain, in Italy, in Flanders, aud e.
ven 10 the climate of England and Scotland ?
Cd. We have not yet succeeded in diff'using
widely the best breeds of cattle, from the excel
lent stock now easy ofaccess tn us all. There is
no subject on which it is more true, that a
liberal expense IS the strictest economy
Natural pecullarlies of form in animals, are
either Tile cause or the indication of certain
qualities. JudlclOus observers, by the union
Of similar animals, have given greater de-
Feiopement to these qualities, and established
al length distinct breeds with very decisive
superiorlties over Our ordinary cattle. These
should be sought by good farmers, as their
superior profits far exceed the additional
prlce of them. But we are often tempted
by the false economy of buying cheap ami
mails, and we are frequently misIed into the
practice of pampering into sickly magni-
tude, cattle which have no natural facility to
tatten. This is mistaken pride, productive
no immediate good, and the more to be
regretted, since the capital actually lost in
feeding bad animals might have imported