The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1868-12-19

A thriving farmer to whom we put the
best in your operations? answered "Labor."
He had then in the field six men and kept
them constantly at work for nine months
in the year. He had but sixty acres of
land, yet the gross products were about
fifteen thousand dollars year. A single
item in this years crop was 6,000 bushels
of seed potatoes. His rough farm was
rapidly rounding into form under his plas-
tic touch. Old stone walls had been remov-
ed, and the small fields opened into large
ones. Rocks had been blasted and sunk,
and the rough places made smooth. The
wet places had been made dry by deep
drains. He SUBSIDIZED, and guarded every
crop against drought. He kept at work
upon Improvements, and made the crops
pay for them. He said he regretted moth
ing so much as that he had not employed
more help. This clear-headed farmer is
unquestionably right. Nothing pays SO
well as labor, even at the present high
prices. Almost all farm products have
advanced more than labor in the last eight
years. And if this were not so, we think
in the single item of improved implements
the farmer has an advantage that more
than balances the increased price of labor.
He can make hay cheaper with these tools
to-day than he could ten years ago without
them, though he pays third more for
labor. Yet many Of our farmers doubt
this and continue to apply the labor of one
man to a hundred acres, and call it econo-
my. We have no doubt it is the most ex-
pensive mode Of applying labor. Almost
every thing can be made cheaper on a large
scale than on a small one. The publisher
makes very little on a thousand copies of a
work ; ON a hundred thousand he would
make a small fortune. 1t will not pay to
build a factory and use power looms to
make cloth for the use of one family to
good business. Most farms have every re-
guisite but labor to grow four or five times
their present omount of crops. They have
land enough, and often all the materials
for making manure. They lack the men
to haul the sea-weed, the muck, or the
mari, to burn the lime, and to handle the
compost. For lack of labor tlree-fourths
of their capital lies idle, or pays them
barely two per cent per annum. One great
advantage of plenty of labor upon the
farm is the ability to do everything at the
fitting time. Nearly half the expense of
hauling muck is saved if it is dug out in a
time of drought. Three-fourths of the
labor of tillage is saved if the men are put
into the field as soon as the weeds are in
sight. Every crop is followed up with
timely care, and is raised at the least cost.
There are improvements that never get
done for the want of labor. He knows
that understanding is paid for by the extra
crops of two good years, leaving the land
more than doubled in value for a lifetime
He never finds time to do it, He knows
that manures pay well, yet he never makes
half the amount he could use to advantage.
We need to do business on larger scale to
make farming pay better We must have
faith in our calling, and invest capital as
literally as the merchant OF manufacturer
does in bis. At this season, when we sum
up results and forecast the future, let MS
plan to use more labor.