Martinsburg gazette and public advertiser. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1826-1833, 1830-11-25
agricultural.
Frosn the u. States Literary .Adrsrther'
FARMING.

Those who bave strictly Investigated
the subject consider large farms compare
lively less productive than small ones while
they at the same time impose upon their
owners a degree Of labor much greater
In proportion than would seem to be reauir.
ed BY the mere difference OF management.
a farmer in moderate circumstances, with
fifty or sixty acres ofland, for instance, will
bring every inch OF II into a high state Of
eultivatisn-tbe labor employed in preparing
his grounds viii be more than daably CON.
pcnsated in his subsequent exemption
from toll, while the owaer Of a wide spread
territory Of three or four hundred acres,
which be has but sparIngly supplied with
nourIshment, must work more sedulously up
on every acre during the progress of the We.
getatl0n: and after all, reap but a meagre
and inadequate harvest. As a single acre of
land, highly cultivated, can be madc to Weld
scrop equal to three or four acre. s~cantily
prepared, it must be obvious that the extra
labor in dressing the former, Is a~bundantly
more than saved by the diminished labor in
attending it. A striking exemplification of
this fact may be vIewcd by any of our farm
ers, wac will take the trouble to visit the
grounds attached to the House OF Industry at
South Boston-there, thsy may have the
theory and the illustration directly before
Ahth SJtP ~ fSAiNHt - - 0AtAp htNB
produced this season. from three to four
tons of hay per acre-which Is three or four
times the quantity of ordinary crops. So
exuberant was the grass, that there actually
was not room, upon the surface where it
grew, sufficient for the purpose of making
the hay. Aad this was entirely ewing, as
we are told, to the previous pans taken to
enrich the soil by plentiful additions Of suita-
BILE compost.
Were tAs SAME policy pursued by the
owners oil large farms, there would be little
need OF emigration from the New Eng
land to the western states; for the very tract
which now under a careless system OF cuI.
tura, barely affords sustenance for a single
family, mlght be male 10 support three or
fouf-and that too, with much les, ''toil aud
trouble in proportion to the quantity cult
yatcd-Many Of our farmers grasp at the
management OF tos spacious a territory-the
consequence IS, tacy impose upon themselves
a state OF slavery, they accumulate nothing,
except now and thea an additional patch Of
waste land whlch serves only to increase their
burthens without augmsnting their income.
Were they on the contrary to c%ontine their
cxertions 10 smaller spots, while their crop,
could be rendered equally, ii not more ab ua
dant, they would themselves onjsy life bet
ter-because more independent. with their
usual snare oil sa5aclty and irug Atty mere
wealthy, they weuld acquire time to institute
experiments, and TO examine improvements:
they would attain what they sow scare ely
ever possess -teisars -wherehy we moan moi
the privilege eli being lazy bat that sort of
leisure which poor Richard describes as time
fer doing something useful time for study,
for reflection, for familiar converse for Look
ing after the education of their young in
short. for realizing the blessings after which
they are constantly toiling. We are no prac.
teal farmers-b but according TO the proverb
ga wink from a blind horse" is sometimes ser,
giceabls.
WHEAT CRoP The Petersburg In
t%slligencer OF Tuesday says. We re.
greet to hear that, in the upper country
generally, as well as 10 our neigh.
eorhood. the farmers complain much
OF the ravages of the Fly. Indeed, so
warm has been the season, that this de.
structivs insect has appeared 10 innum.
cradle swarms. and most of the wheat
sown in September has been so far iniu-
rsd as 10 be entirely abandoned, and