Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1867-07-26
farm, Gmaeu 4 8pnsehold.
OyER-CRoPPING.
Erom Ia Gemantora TsIeqra

errors in American agriculture. Thousands
of farmers-hard. working and industrious
men-have been hopelessly impoverished by
It: and yet, so powerful is the force of Gus
tom that a vast many, with their eyes wide
open to the fact, and with the fatal expert.
ence of their predecessors and neighbors pal
pably exhibited for their admonitou and di-
rection, continue the same ruinous practices,
and Of consequence must, in short time,
realize the same unhappy results. When we
cast our eyes abroad over the surface OF our
fair State, blessed in an eminent degree with
every natural advantage, and possessing with
in itself all the elements Of wealth and hap
piness, and contemplate the influence thiI
insane practice has exerted in retarding the
development Of her resources and her prog
ress to prosperity, we can with difficulty sup
press an ejaculation Of surprise at the strange
hallucination which appears to have taken
possession of the popular mind Nor is it al
all to be wondered at, considering the policy
which has been adopted in cropping our cul-
tivated lands, that the mournful declarations,
''My lands are running out, and ''My crops
are annually diminishing should assail us
on every hand. Nature, like an indulgent
parent, wearied by continual solicitations and
ceaseless opportunities, has, at length, closed
her generous hand, and now refuses the un-
grateful supplicant a longer continuance oi
favors hitherto SO munifcently afforded with
only nominal and by no means fair equiv
alent in return. It would seem, indeed, as
though majority of our farmers regarded II
as feasible to adopt the same policy in their
agricultural transactions with Dame Nature
which so extensively prevailed during the
mania of the land speculation, viz: The
Credit System; and that, so long as they can
maintain the reputation of extensive opera
tors" and point exultingly to their wide
spread domains, they have nothing to fear
or apprehend. But this will not do. The
supervision of the old lady's exchequer is
conducted on no halfway principles, and her
laws, though for time aud under certain
circumstances susceptible Of shameful per-
version, are not to be annulled. There will
come day of reckoning for the delinquent,
and the rod of retributive justice, though be
may escape its infiction for a time, will over
take him at last.
1t is the tate of every human enterprise to
be attended and enyironed with difficulties;
and from this law agricultural pursuits are by
no means exempt. One of the most promi-
nent obstacles in the way ofthe farmer, is the
low estimate some put upon hisnOble calling.
Physical power, mere brute force, is, by ma
ny, regarded as the only requisite 1t is con-
sidered a desecration and want of intellect to
apply it to agriculture. In the practice Of
over-cropping, we recognize one of the results
of non-education, for no intelligent man viii
adopt so absurd a method Of extorting sub
sistence from the soil, for he can cast his
vision forward, in advance of the present.
and anticipate the consequences. He is full
ly aware that to regard present gains, I'M
mindful of future profits, is suicidal as well
as absurd. The man who desires to thrive
by agriculture, must strive to increase, not to
diminish the productive capacity of his lands;
in word, he must reverse the popular poll
cy and give to the soil more than he takes
from it. The man who spends not only his
interest but a certain portion of his principal
every year, will never become any richer
from his investments.
Another serious hindrance in the way Of
the advancement of agriculture, is the cult
walton of too much land. Were the farmer
to expend his energies and manure on one
fourth the surface he now endeavors to cuitl-
tivate, he would soon find both his condition
and his soil improving; he would rarely be
compelled to complain of short crops, and
could realize the same results with one-half
the effort he is now compelled to pat forth,
and with far greater certainty of success IN
every department A snug, compact farm
which is easily enclosed and easily watched,
with everything neat and in good order, is
certainly far more desirable than a large, un-
productive homestead which does not defray
the expense Of carrying it on, andwhen heay-
Y outlays are demanded to defray the ex-
pense of the frequent repairs required. Our
farmers should think seriously of these mat
ters; it is certainly for their interest TO do So
and the day viii come when they will be made
sensible of the fact, but it may come too late.
The example set US by the English and Irish
peasantry should be an admonition to us in
this particular, for it shows what may be ac-
complished by expending capital and labor
on even limited extents Of surface.
FRAECoNIA.
Montgomery County, July 9, 1867.