Virginia advocate. [volume] (Charlottesville, Va.) 1827-1860, 1830-10-08
AGRICULTURAL,
SMALL FAkMS-COLLECrING
MAN(JRES.

The great principles Of agriculture
may be reduced to these two points :
keep snaA farms and manage them ,oeH.
What constitutes small farm, or in
what consists good management, are
subjects deeply affecting the best inter-
ests vi society, and have engaged vo-
Tunes OF the most phiianthroplc wri-
tings.
1t is unnecessary to describe, how a
large farm may be ruined, in the case
Of proprietor whose capital Is small /,
every PRACTICAL farmer can explain, aud
the most superficial view of hundreds
Ofsuch farm, to be seen in all direc.
tions. vii. at once convince the doubt
tuI. 1t only remains to see how the
farmer aud his family, can be support
ed on farm Of fifty acres.
The skiliul farmer will keep his
lands in state OF constant productive
ness; the most injudiciods damage
ment or the most apparent neglect can
alone cause land to remain Tor years or
even for season without contributing
to the farmers sustenance; this state,
however, seldom fails to attend large
farms. A rotation of crops and a sup
ply oil manure will secure this constan,
state of productiveness. Every farmer
IS sufficient Judge of the managing a
ROTATION OF crops, and, in some mea-
sure, acts on that principle but the
mind aud labor are so divided i'm the
care oflarge farms, that neither can be
brought to act with sufficient judgement
or effect. A proper disposition of cat.
tie, added to a judicious collecting of
manure, will always produce the means
OF enrsching and lnvigorating the soil,
nor can there ever appear any want of
sufficient supply OF manure Tor every
purpose OF the farm.
The collecting of compost, or ma
nure, being indispensable to the far
mer, il shall.be here first attended to.
Compost Is to be considered, both as to
It's quantity and its quality. The guam
tlty may be increased by mixing clay,
or other unfermented matter with the
manure, the entire mass will partake
OF the salts, and all ierIaent together.
The quality which seems of more I'm
portance than the quantity, may be i'm
proved by choosing proper site TOR
the manure heap. 1t should not be
made in hole, because the rain water
will soon fill the hole and chill the ma !.
nure; which should, in order to Ter
0Ientation, preserve a considerable
heat 1t should not be made or a hiIl
because its juices will run fiom it: it
should not be exposed TO rain, because
the water passing through 1t will carry
away Its most valuable part: nor should
1t be entirely excluded from the air
which is essentially useful to it. With
these general observations in view. the
farmer will easily contrive proper plan
tor collecting a sufficiency OF rich CON-
post ior all the uses This farm, which,
linus plentliully supplied, will never de-
generate into barren waste. The
manure heap should be placed near the
farm yard, SO that the rotten straw.
bedding of the cattle, &c. may be east
iy removed TO it; sewer or gutter
should also be contrived to carry IF the
urine from the cattle 8 stalls to a reser
Voir near the manure; and finally, .,
should be collected on fiat spot Of
ground so hard as to be, if possible inn
PervIous TO the juices, which would 9TH
erwise sink into the earth and be total.
Iy lost.--N. Y. Farmer.