Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1837-07-14
FATANIMALS AND LARGE CROPS

The profits of crops, as well az cattle,
depend mainly upon the return they make
for the food and labor bestowed upon
them. The man who grows a hundred
bushels of corn, or makes hundred pounds
of meat. with the same means and labor
his neighbor expends to obtain fifty bushels
and while the latter merely lives, the form.
or, if prudent, must grow rich. He gains
the entire value of,he extra fifty bushels
or fifty pounds. This disparity in the
profits of agricultural labor ami expendi-
ture is not visionary specula.ion-lt liz
matter Of feet. which is sees verified in al.
most every town. We SEQ one farmer ralse
so bushels of corn on an acre of land, with
the same labor, but with more foresight,
in keeping his land in good tll,h. and feed.
ing better his crop, that his ne'ghbor em
D'oys upon a" acre, and who does not get
40 or even 80 bushels. This difference
results from the manner Of feeding and
tending The crop.
II the farmer for the convenience Of trans.
porlation tn market, wishes 10 convert his
grim, and his forage, and his roots, and
his apples, into beef and pork, what is his
jndicious course of proceedings Does he
dole these out TO his cattle and his hogs in
s,intcd parcels, just sufficient TO sustain
life or to keep them IN ordinary plIgh, ?
No. He knows that given quantity OF
food is necessary to keep them as they are,
and that the more beyond the given qnan
Iity. which they can transform into meat,
and the sooner they do il. the greater the
profit. To illustrate our rem ark; Suppose a
hog requires twenty bushels Of grain to
keep hun IN plight for two years, and that
he can manufacture fifteen bushels Of this
grain INTO pork in six months If duly pre-
pared aud fed to him. In the one case.
the ownet has hin lem hog at the end OF
two years, for his twenty Snshels Of grain;
in the other, he has converted fifteen bush
ella Of this gram into pork into money-at
the end OF six months, saved the keep oil
the hog for eighteen months. and twice or
thrice turned his capitalize profit. Time IL
mon ey, in these ssin all other things ap.
peri aiming 10 the farm--The proposition
NAV he thus stated-that which will bare.
" ketpa hog two years, will fallen him
we'll 10 six months. Therefore, the soon.
or we can convert our grain and forage into
meat with due regard to thehesllh Oft h.
animal, and'he 'ruo economy of food, the
grea,er will be the profits which accrue
The remark applies to milk as we'll as meat
These facts teach US. to keep no more STOCK
than zoe can Keep wefl and that, one ami
mai, kept weil, is Of more profit than t,pt
animals that are but haDJed.
five apply these rules TO our crops
they instruct us TO ill no more land tha,
we can Till ,oeH and to. plant and sow II
more than zoe can feed ,oeU; for the fac
must not be lost sight OF, that our crops
like our cattle, live and fallen upon veget
able matters. One hundred bushels o.
corn. or four hundred bushels of potatoes
may be grown upon four acres of land bad
ly fed and badly tended and this is prob
f ably about fair average Of these crops
while the same amount of corn of potatoes
may be grown on one acre, if the crop i
we'll fed and tended. The product bein:
! the same from he one acre ss from III,
5 four acres, and the expense but o trlhe,
T any, more than ne-quaTter as much, It re
, suits, that if the crop on the four acres pay
e for labor and charges, three. fourlhs of III
=, crop on the one acre in nett gain to tn
, culliva,o-. Estimating the charges o,Se
y the acre, The price OF corn Al s., and po.a
I'll toes 25cts. the we'll cultivated acre afford
S a profit, over ard above the charges, q
8 S75--while the crop on the four acres give
e not cent of profit. but merely pays II
e Charges upon ii. Though not 10 this degre