, 1843-03-11
CuItivating too much Land.

of the primary influences that retard
the progress of agriculture and the
productiveness of the labors of agrI-
culturalists In our State, is the owner
ship and improve nent Ut that can
he called improvement which pushes
a soil TO less than half its Capacity
of too much land. We are told thai
the farm of the celebrated Roman
CincinnatuS. consisted only of four
acres. the other three having been
lost by becoming surety for a friend;
We ere also told hat Carius, who
was celebrated for his frugality, and
was three times chosen Consul, and
thrice honored with a triumph on re-
turning from a successful campaign.
refused from the people a grant of
fifty acres of land, declaring that he
was a bad citizen who could not be
content with the old allowance of
seven acres. God forbid" excIaim.
ed this hero to his soldiers. shat Il
citizen should look on that as 4 small
piece of land which will support a
man.
The evil OF an extended ownership
in lands 10y Il farmers. consists in
the inclination which such ownership
very naturally begets of cultivaiing
too much of it and that but freely, In
stead of combining their industry and
means to only so much land as they
can push TO the extreme of its capaci.
ty of produce. If one will inquire
into the history of those persons
who have succeeded best as ~cuItiva.
tors Of the soil, he will find that they
are those who have approached near
est to a rigid observance of that rule
which e%nioins the cultivation OF nc
more land than can be pushed TO the
highest condition of fertility by al
the labor and means which the Guilt
vator has TO bestow. All the land
which a mar possesses beyond this
and confined TO his own occupation
had better lie fallow or neglected
than suffer to impoverish that which
he should cultivate by dividing with il
his labor and manure, rendering the
whole feeble and productive. In the
vicinage of Boston, that is to say
within a circle Of fifteen and twenty
miles from the city hundreds of indi
viduais are acquiring independence
from the proceeds of farms no large
than that which in oIden times wa:
sufficient for a Cincinnatus or Cariu
to support himself upon a style of no
table case AMI contentment. Blu
this is not so because of their vicin
age to the market-for the differenc,
between the nett amount Of thei
sales and of those of more distan
farmers, is not to he found in the dit
ference of the cost Of transportation
which the two classes incur. No
the main difference comes from the su
perior productivenesss oc the few
acres of the one over the many acre
Of the other. The one makes ever
loot of ground that he c~uItivateS pro
ductive to the full extent.of It's capa
bIlity under the most generous appli
cation Of manures, ana SO c~onsecrate
his labors to the utmost advantage
whereas the others fall under the in
fluence of the impression that unIes
he has Il goodIv number c
acres subjected to the plough ever,
year, his farm is neglected. and tina
he cannot raise enough to live upon
and in order to seem TO make bushes
Of farming, his stock of manure mus
be divided and scattered over tn
whole. The consequence is an un
profitable dispersion of his labor,
poorly cultivated farm, and a feebl,
production of crops.
When shall we look forward to
general Improvement in this particu
lar among u farmers! When on,
of two influences of an enlightened
system Of agricultural science one
rates-that is, a more active combina
ton Of head and hand work or III,
influence of a very much increased
price of land in the country general
ly. The famer will. perhaps, more
directly than any thing else tend Il
produce the latter result-so thai
the two influences may be expected
to operate simultaneously. Be thi,
as 1t may, we can look forward with
the utmost c~omplacency to the peri
cd when men will be unable to pro.
cure : much land as will always
keep them poor; or when they will
understand most truly that the way
to get wealthy by tiliing the soil is to
have no nor land than can be
brought by the means which the own
er possesses, into the highest state OF
cultivation. We recommend to our
farmers to enquire each one for HIM
self, whether he has not too much