The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1870-02-22
What I Know Of Farming.
Ivy HORACE GREELEY.

and rocky, or sandy and sterile, such d
New England, eastern New York, north
ern New Jersey, with both slopes Of the
Alleghcnics, rs well rs the western third
Of our continent, abound in 1tmly be
that It is advisable TO be content with q
smaller proportion Oftimber In tho Prairie
Suites and the broad, fertile intervals
which cmbOsOm most Of our great rivers
for ut least u part Of their course; but
doubt It. And there Is scarcely farm in
the whole country, outside Of the great
primitive forests in%hicll openings have
but recently been hadc, III which Sohat
trec.planting Is not urgently required.
"TOo much land" you will hear assign
cd on every side as q reason for poor farm.
ing and meagcr crops Ask IN average
farmer in New England, in Virginin, In
Kentucky, or in Alabama, why the crops
of his section are in the average no better
and the answer, three times in four, will
be, "Our farmers hive too much land
TINT is not too much absolutely, but too
much relatively TO their capital, st0cSand
general ability to till effectively. The ha'
6itual grower Of poor crops will prOlIcr
this explanation quite Us freely AMI fire..
Qucntly rs his more thrifty ncighbOr. And
what every one asserts must have basis
Of truth.
Now, l do not mean TO quarrel with the
instinct which prompts my COuntrymCn
too buy and hold too muCL land. They
feel, as do, that land Is still cheap almost
anywhere in this country cheap, ifnOt IN
view Of tho income now derived from it.
certainly in contemplation Of the price II
must soon command and the income Il
might, under better management, he made
to yield. Under this cOnviCtiOn-Or, II
you please, impresSion-evcry one Is intent
on holding on TO more land than he caI
probably till, il not more then no can
promptly pay for.
What l do object TO Is simply this-tllat
thousands, who have more land Than they
have capital 10 work probably, will per
siSt In llalEtilling' many acres, instead o.
thoroughly farming One-lnlL or onc.third
so many, and getting the rest intowOo,l SC
iast as may he. lam confident that two
thirds of all our farmers would improve
their circumstances and increase their IN
comes by concentrating their efforts, tlleiI
means, their fertilizers, upon hNlrtO two
thirds Of the urea they now skim and skin
and giving tho residue buck to timber
growing. } uli. .s&.'!
In my own hilly, rocky, OitCM DOGGY
Wcstchcstcr-prO6Ably within six Of he
ing tho oldest agricultural county in the
UniOn-I am confident that len thousand
acres might tomorrow be given buck IL
forest with profit to the OwllGrs and 'ad'
vantage to the inhabitants. 1t is u fruit.
growing, milk.producing, understanding
county, closely adjoining the greatest city
Of the New Work; hence, one wherein
land can he cultivated us probably us H.
most anywhere Glsc-yGt I am satisfied
that half its surface mHy be more advan-
taseOuSly devoted to timber than to grass
or tillAge. Nay doubt that one acre in
hundred Of rocky land-that Is, land
ribbed or dotted with rocks that the bar
or the rOck-hook cannot lin from tllCir
beds, and which IT, will not MS yet ply to
blasts now titled to profit, or ever will
be until II shall be found advisable to clear
them entirely ,0f stone breaking through
or rising within two feet Of the surface.
The time will doubtless arrive IN which
many fields will pay for clearing Of stone
that would lIOt to-day; these, l urge,
should lie given up 10 wood now, and kept
wooded until the hour shall have struck
for Kidding them Of every impeachment to
tho steady progress Of both the suriacc
and the slilIsoil plow. ~ ?
Where all the rocky CrGsts and rugged
activities Of this county bOuntcOusly
wooded once more, and kept so for gGncr-
atoms, our floods would be less Injurious,
our. springs ,unGlilfng, and our streams
more cOnstlit and 'cQuNblc: our blasts
would DO lcsS bitter and our galGs less DO.
struCtivo to fruit; VIC should hNvc vastly
more birds to delight US by their melody
and aid lis in our not very successful war
with dCyOuring insects; we, should grow
pcechCs, cherries, and other delicate fruits,
which the violent CapriCes Of Our seasons,
tho rem0rsclcsS d0vaStatioiis Ol oar visible
and invisible insect enemies, have all but
annihilated; and wo should keep moro
cows and mako more milk on twO.thirtls
Of tho land now devoted TO grass than We
actually do from the whole Of It. And
what Is truo Of Wcstchester Is measur.
ably trq g Of every EpTl county in the
have said TINT believe In cutting
trees rs well rs in growing them; i have
not said, and do not mean To sly, that be-
liCvc In cutting everything clean NS you
90. That was once proper IN WcstCEes.
ter; 1t Is still advisable In fOreSt.cOvCrel
regions, where Tie sun must be let in be,
fore crops can be grown; but, In nine cases
out Of ten, timber should be thinnCl OF
culled out rather than cut Oft; and, fOr
every tree taken away, at least two should
be planted or set out,
n We have pretty well outgrOwn the folly
on letting every apPle.trce bear such fruit
u IL will; though IN the orchard If my
fathers little farm in Amherst, N. H.,
whereO1 was born, no tree Ind ever
been grated when babe 'adieu 10 It IN
1920; and l presume none hNs to this day,
BY this time, almost every farmer realizes
that he can't afford TO grow little, gnarly
villainOuSly sour or dGtestably bitter,
sweet apples, when, by duly setting q
graft at 4 cost Of two dimes, lie makes
that identical tree yield Greetings or Pip.
pins at least as hOunteOusly. / presume
the cumulative experience Of fity or sixty
generations Of applc.growers h6s ripCncd
this conclusion. Why do they not infer
readilyRnd generalH;ihst growing ,indiE
fcrcnt timber where tho best and most
valued would grow as rapidly, Is u stupid
costly blunderE ltScemS TO me that who.
ever hNs attained the conviction that ap