Litchfield enquirer. [volume] (Litchfield, Conn.) 1829-current, 1855-12-06
What a Poor Farmer Can't At
ford.

What a Poor Farmer Can't At
ford.
The Buffalo Courier furnishes i report
of Horace Grpeley-s address at the annual
Fair in Erie County, on the I2th Of Sep
TENDER. from which we select as follows:
The truth / am most anxious to impress.
is, that no poor man can afford to be poor
farmer. When hare recommended agii-
cultural improvements. ! have often been
told, !. this expensive farming will do we'll
enough for rich people, but We who are in
moderate circumstances cant afford it,
Now. it is NOT ornamental farming that /
recommend, but profitable farming. Il Is
true that the amount OF mans capital
must fix the limit Of his business. in agri-
culture as in everything else. But howev
er poor You may be. you can afford to cul-
tivate it WE'LL It may be out Of your pow
! er-to keep large farm under high state
of cultivation. but fhen you should sell a
| part of it. and cultivate small one. If
! you cannot afford to raise small crops, you
cannot afford fe accept half crop from
land capable Of yielding whole one. If
you are poor man, you cannot afford to
fence two acres to secure the crop that
ought to grew one; you cannot afford to
pay or lose the interest on the cost Of a
hundred acres of land to get the crops that
will grow on fifty. No man can afford to
raise twenty bushels of corn to the acre.
not even if the land were given to him
| for twenty bushels to the acre will not pay
the cost of the miserable cultivation that
| produces it.
No poor man can afford to cultivate his
land, in such manner as will cause it to
deteriorate in value. Good farming i'm
proves the vaiue of land, and the farmer
| who manages his farm so as to get the lar
| gest crop it is capable of yielding, increas-
| es its value every year.
| A farmer cannot afford to produce weeds.
| They grow. to be sure, without cultivation,
they spring up spontaneously on all land,
and especially rich land, but though they
cost no toll, a farmer cannot afford to raise
them. The same elements that feed them
would, with proper cultivation, nourish a
crop, and no farmer can afford TO expend
on weeds the natural wealth which was be.
slowed by Providence to fill his granariss.
| am accustomed, my friends, to estimate
the Christianity of the localities through
which pass, by absence of weeds OH and
about the farms. When see farm COW
| cred by u gigantic growth of weeds, take
,, it for granted that the owner is heather.
| il hereto, or an infdel-Christian he can-
not be, or he would not allow the heritage
which God gave him to dress and keep, to
be deformed and profaned.
And if you will allow me to make an an
| plication of the doctrine preach, must
be permitted to say that there is great
field for missionary eaArt on the farms be-
tween here EAST Hamburgh) and Buffalo.
Nature has been boantiful to you, but there
is a great need of better cultivation.
Farmers cannot afford to grow a crop on
| soil that does not contain the natural ele-
ments that enter into its composition
When you burn vegetable, large part
of its bulk passes away during the process
Of combustion into the air. But there is
+, Always residue of mineral matter. con-
sisting of lime, potash, and other ingrcdi-
ents that entered into its Composition
Now, the plant drew these materials out of
the ea,th, and if you attempt to grow that
plant in a soil that is deficient in these in
gradients, you are driving All unsuccessful
business. Nature does not make vegeta-
bles out of nothing. and you cannot expect
| to take crop after crop from field that
does does not contain the elements of which
it is formed. If you wish to maintain the
fertility Of your farms. you must constant
ly restore to them the materials which are
withdrawn in cropping No farmer can
afford to sell his ashes. You annually ex-
port from Western New York large
amount of potash. Depend upon it, there
| is nobody in the world to whom this is
worth SO much as it is to yourself. You
can't afford to sell it, but farmer can well
afford to buy ashes at higher price than
is paid by any body that does not wish to
| use them as fertilizers Of the soil. Situa.
ted as the farmers of this county are in the
neighborhood of city that bnrns large
quantities Of wood for iuel, you should
make it part of your system to secure all
the ashes it produces. When your teams
go to town with loads of wood, it would
cost comparatively little to bring back
loads of ashes and other fertilizers that
would improve the productiveness of your
farms.
No poor farmer can afford to keep fruit
trees that do not bear good fruit Good
fruit is always valuable, and should be raj
sed by the farmer, not only for market, but
Tor large consumption IN his own famiy.-
As more enlightened views of diet prevail,
fruit is destined to supplant the excessive
quantities of animal food that are consum-
ed in this country. This change will pro-
duce better health, greater vigor of body,
activity of mind, and elasticity Of spirits.
and cannot doubt that the times will come
when farmers. instead Of putting down
! large quantities Of meat as they do at pres
cnt, will give their attention in autumn to
the preservation of large quantities of
fruit, for consumption as a regular article
Of diet. the early part of the following sum-
m.r. Fruit viii not then appear on the Ia
bic as it does now, only as u desert after
dinner, but will come with every meal, and
be reckoned substantial aliment.
No poor farmer can afford to work with
poor implements, with implements that do