Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1850-1859, 1855-12-14
THE FARM:
The (sarien..-Tile Orchard.
From the Germantown Telegraph
TOO MUCH LAND.

lCO IiUVn LA1VG.
Mr. FREAs-NotLing can be more in
rressivelv apparent at the present time,
than the fact that a very preponderating g
majority Of our farmers attempt TO cult
vate too much land. The general COM
plant among practical agriculturists IS,
that farming is uproftab,e business. Why
it is SO, is sufficiently explained BY the
fact first stated. The disadvantages, in
deed, resulting from this error, are numer-
GUS and obvious. No man can doubt that
the soil now under cultivation in the Uni
ted States, would with proper manage
ment, produce twice the quantity Of vege-
tables it now does. From twenty to thir-
ty bushels Of Indian corn, twenty to TWEEN
ty-two of wheat, thirty of oats and one
hundred and fifty Of potatoes, are as much
as most farmers expect from an acre yet
with improved modes of cultivation, en-
bracing liberal manuring, and judicious
rotary system, this amount of produce is
frequently doubled, and, in many instan-
ces, quadrupled, on lands which, under the
old systems, could scarcely be made to
produce sufficient to defray the expenses
of fencing and carrying on" Let our
farmers but reduce the quantity of their
arabic land,-let them accord more atten-
tiou to the quantity and quality Of their
manurcs, and introduce an enlightened
system of rotation, which will not exhaust
the fertility Of the soil beyond the power
again producing without an expensive out
lay Of cash for manure, and they will soon
find that farming will assume a different
estimate. The cost of plowing, planting
aud hoeirg an acre of land capable of ma
turing fifty or sixty bushels of sound corn,
would be no more than in the case Of land
capable of producing only twenty. The
averge yield of the grass land in well ma
naged regions, is said to be less than one
ton per acre &. and yet there are acres and
acres in many places which have produced
four tons. Here is an increase of three
fourths, resulting from superior cultiva-
tion, for the superior yield is by no means
to be attributed to superiority of soil, for
in several instances these heavy crops have
been taken from fields surrounded BY
others from which less than one ton was
the average annual product The premium
crops of Indian corn rarely fall short of
one hundred bushels shelled corn to the
acre; yet the average of the popular corn
is less than twenty-five And in this di-
minished ratio we are to estimate all the
other ordinary cultivated products of the
farm. Wherever an effort is made to pro-
luce remuncrating crop, success invaria-
bly, attends the undertaking. Now, if a
farmer who cultivates twenty acres, would
diminish the extent of his fields ue-haf,
and bestow upon the remaining ten acres,
the manure and time required to cultivate
the twenty, there can be no question that
he would, in short time, be able to real
ise from the circumscribed area, as much
and ultimately more than he now obtains
from the whole Let him also reduce the
quantity OF his grass lands in the same
proportion, and he will not only save one
half of the labor of securing the crop, but
an important item in fencing, and besides
get more tons of hay, as the manure and
labor expended originally upon two acres,
will be concentrated upon one.
The wonderful effect Of good tillage is
exemplifcd in our gardens. Here few
rods produce, annually, ten times the
weight of produce afforded by the best
managed fields. And why should not ev-
cry inch of soil the husbandman cultivates,
be as fertile as his garden? Look at our
wealthy amateur farmers, and see what
immense products they secure from their
lands But it will be said such men sink
fortunes in farming. True, this is fire.
quently the case. But why? Simply be-
cause they hire everything done. They
are generally "men of leisure" wealthy
merchants, or professional men who have
acquired afiluence, and perhaps can afford
to farm at an outlay. But this result
would not be experienced by the careful,
prudent, judicious, intelligent aud working
farmer, who superintends every arrange
ment and detail of his business himself.
lie would know how every dollar was ap-
piled, every shoveful of manure appropri-
ated, and every product turned to the
mot pr9i.1ble account.