New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1853-10-14
Tho, the sisisr Arts 0sath as to farming
AN ADDRESS
BEFORE THE INDIANA STATE AeRcoLrohAL so''hif'
ATT. Annual Fair, lafayette Ind Oct Is Ia"
BY HORACE GREELEY

,,;s,s,p witch denies TO one OF my habits and pur-
"a. .,naety 10 instruct farmers a. TO their own es-
...;.I vocation Shoemaker, stick 10 your last is
a soupd though sometimes misspPed admonuOn, and
there il great strength in the natural presumption that
every man can see little farther on his own proper
halfway than can be by any one else fully re-
a,ize and cheerfully admit that any one OF you Woo
has devoted the last twenty thirty years 70 Agreu
lure must know very much more concerning II than L.
who abandoned il at fifteen 70 master and pursue
most exsctng mechanical and intellectual VOCATION ana
have since been able 10 snatch but here and there an
hour from constant pressure Of imperative duties ana
oppressiye cares 70 revive the memories OF my youth
among the busy seed-planters, within sound Oh the
oer sharpeninQ his scytbe. If we're To essay iec
,,,e m the Cornplete HusbandmaD-to fix the proper
,n c nIsptiog this or that vegetable, and Tor mar
.,,o ,ls or that grain and 50 OIL might, OF course
no .orrected OH many points by OF the youngest
~ nov .nditor, Little az know Of farming, know
too much of it to attempt any such teaching What
,haH endeayor is to set forth Of the principles
which underle the whole fabric of Productive Art and
Industry. (my calling as web yours and 70 show
their application, as correctly may to the Farmers
vocation as well az others may err III this OF that
spplcation but shall endesvOr TO base my nculca-
tons on principles broad in their scope and so VIM
dcaed by centuries Of successful experience in great
variety Of pursuits, to be justly entitled 10 pace
among the axoms Of Industrial Science
The first point then which shall endeavor to Illus
.rste il that Of Economy of Means-perhaps should
rather say Harmony of the management
Of farms o. Of every thing else For when say ECON
omy. mean something as remote as possible from
Parsmony Cheap lands, cheap buildings cheap iaDOr'
cheap stock cheap trees or gratis are as lar from
economy az anything well could be- by Economy
of Means imply such disposition or distribution oil
means be they scanty abundant as shall ensure 10
the operaor the largest attanabe return Tor DIS aoor
and skill. For example print newspapers for Nv
ing and am obliged, by the extent Of some OF my edi-
tons to use presses costing twelve TO sixteen thousand
dollars each There is real economy in so dong De-
causc could not otherwise dispatch my papers to their
bscribers in accountable season But if any journal
nrtiuo ooethrd or one tenth many copies, were TO
buy and use such presses the policy would be waStei
and ruiuous although the editions would be thrown
of with unwonted celebrity and efficiency The inter
est on the capital needessy locked up ID presses
would probably absorb oil the profits OF the business II
not more And yet this is the identical blunder that
Thousands of farmers persist in, by holding on to large
farms which cost thousands OF dollars, ana are very
likely mOrtgaged or otherwise encountered whe anie
or willing only TO apply thereto the labor science
sll and manures which are requisite and proper Tor
farms one.fourth so large. Here is enormous waste
loss of interest on three ourtbs of the capital invest
ed In laDd-a loss which may possibly be endured in
farming but which could not fail to prove ruinous In
almost any other business
Every farmer seems aware of the reality and magn
tude of the general in this respect yet the great
majority persist in being wise for their nelghbors only
and not for themselves And / apprehend the error
with many originates rather in want OF thought thsh
Il In, tIn nafh
ont nv ,e;r OrApafathers not rejecting that course
which might have been advisaule, or at eastexcasaoe
when farm of three hundred aces was worth but
thousand dollars in css has been rendered utterly in
deiensibie and suicidal by gradual advance IN me
Of that farm to FIVE perhaps ten thousand dol
lars He who can buy land at ten shings per acre
NAV afford TO leave II untitled and unenced for years,
until it's timber its grass shall have become DECIDED
Iy valuable but when that timber shall have disappear
ed the grass become the wachedfor prey OF droves OF
ether mems cattle and the land worth fifty dollars per
acre il is fragrant and cupabe waste to blunder on as
though il were still worth but ten shlllngs
once went TO look at farm of fifty acres that
thought of buyng for summer home some forty miles
from the City of New-iork The owner nad peen
horn on IT, as believe had his father before him. but
ityiedsd only mesger subsistence for his family, and
he thought Of selling and going West went owe,
II with him late in June, passing through welnlca
barn-yard which had not been disturbed that eeaso'
and stepping thence into cornhdd of hye acres win
q like field Of potatoes Just beyond it, why neigh
"bor asked l. in establishment, how could you leave
"all this manure so handy to your pOwed land, ana
"plsnt ten acres without any = 10, was SICK a
"eood part Of the Spring. aud so hurried that could
spot fnr time TO haul ii out why, suppose you
chad planted but FIVE acres IN all, and emptied your
'barny yard those Ave- leaving thu residue un'ouch
ed don't YOU think you would hare harvested a lar
ser cropi" "Well, perhaps slOuld' was thu
moor farmers response. Ii seemed never before u
have occurred 10 him that he could LET alone part
his land Had he progressed so far htmight nave ven
tured thence to the conclusion tnst II rs less expensN
and more profitable TO raise full crtp ON hve acre
than half crop on ten ain sorry to say we have
sood many such farmers still left at thu East thong
the advanced prices of land and the impoverished cond
ton of the soils they Inherited with heir sloVenl
modes of cultivation, have driven the greater share
them TO the West. Here, on your deep; VIRGIN sou
they renew their round of exercises IN fae husoandr
wasting their manures because this and is TIC
enough" and exhausting their soils by ont gran-cr'
after another until they down their capacity fro
thirty bushels per acre of Wheat to ten of Corn OF
of RYE when they will be offagsin for Iowa Missouri
Oregon When they shall have got so far West as
6pdland that doesn't need nor reward fertlElng al
will not be worn out by their mode OF FARMING .ru
they will come to a fun stop and send for all their
lations.
Let me be rightly understood l do not condemn
man Tor otxing more land, in new country whe
land il cheap, than he is now able or willing to eul
waite know perfectly well that the system OF The
oush culture that succeeds so admirably IN Belgium
not vet adapted TO Indiana Where good fenced p
ture may be bought for eight OF zen aonSls Per &c
you cannot afford TO keep up your cattle and cut
their food though that is excellent policy IN It's pla
II ensures the keeping of much larger stock on CIV
area beside enriching the land far more rapidly Il
IL requires vastly more labor, and where wee
work ia worth an acre OF arabic land won 2
a.. naIae ~ FaflF