Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1870-03-18

achievements are necessarily confued to the
vieinage Of cities OF manufacturing villages.
The great majority Of all who live by Agri-
culture want room to turn upou-waut to
grow grass aud keep stock and, for such
no mere garden or potato patch will answer.
They want genuine farms.
Yet 60 where you may in this country, you
viii hear farmer saying of his neighbor,
He has toe much land, even where the crit.
icism might justly be reciprocated. We can
not al be mistaken On this head.
There are men who can each manage thou-
sands Of acres oftihage, just as there are those
who can skillfully WELD an army of hundred
thousand men. Napoleon said there we're
two this class in Europe of bis day. There
are others who cannot handle hundred
acres, so that nothing is lost through neglect
or oversight. Rules must be adapted to aver.
age capacities and circumstances. He who
expects to live by cattle rearing needs many
more acres thnn he who is intent on grain
growing; while he who contemplates vegeta-
bic. root, aud fruit culture, needs fewer acres
still. As to the direction of his efforts, each
will be a law unto himself.
II I we're asked by young man intent on
farming to indicate the proper area for him.
would say, Buy just 50 large a farm, as half
yo,r means, ,oiH pay for. In other words,
'lf you are worth $50, 600. invest half Of it in
land the residue IN stock, tools, &c, and
observe the same rule of proportion, whether
you are worth 81, 600, 900 or 81, 900. # you
are worth just nothing at all, l would invest
in land the half of that, aud no more. In
other words l would either wait to cara $500
over, or push Westward till found land that
costs practically nothing
This then, l take 70 be the gist of the popu-
lar Criticism on our farmers as having unduIy
enlarged their borders; They hare more laad
Hlal they hare capital to stock and till to the
best advantage. He who has but fifty acres
has too much if he let's part of his land lie
idle and uuproduetiye for lack of teams or
hands 20 till it efficiently; while he who has a
thousand acres has none too much if he has
the means and talents wherewith to make the
best Of all.
I have said that I consider the soil of New
England as cheap, all things considered, for
him who is able to buy and work it, as that Of
Minnesota OF Arkansas-that urge migEA-
tion to the West only upon those who cannot
pay for farms in the old States. deub;
whether the farmers of any other section
hare, in the average, done better, through
out the last ten years, than he butter makers
of Vermont, the cheese dairyman of this
State. And yet there is, in the ridgey, rocky,
patcby character Of most of our Eastern
farms, an iusuperable barrier 10 the most
economic, effective cultivation lfthe ridges
we're further apart-if each rocky or grayelly
knoll were not in close proximity to a strip
Of bog or morass-it would be different But
the genius Of our az points Enthusiastically to
cultivation by steam or some other mechani-
cal application of power; and this requires
spacious fields, with few or 10 obstacles to
the equable progress of the pillow, anpre-
bend that, for this reason, the growth Of
breadcorn eastward Of the Hudson can never
more be considerable extended, so long as
the boundless, fertile prairies can so easily
pour their eXhauslless supplies upor US.
Fruits, Vegetables, Roots and Grass, we must
continue to grow, probably in ever iuoreas.
ing abundance; but we of the East will buy
our bread-corn largely if not mainly from the
West.
He therefore who buys land in the Eastern
States should regard primarily its capacity to
produce those crops in which the East can
never be supplauted-Grass, Fruits Vegeta.
bes, Timber. lfa farm will also produce good
corn or Wheat, that is a recommendation:
but let him place higher value on those ca
pacities which will be more generally requir-
ed and drawn upon.
In the West the case Is different: for.
though wheat culture still recedes before the
footsteps Of advancing population and
Minnesota may soon cease to grow Cor others,
az western New York, Ohio, Indiana and
Northern Illinois have already done, yet in.
dian corn being the basis of both Beef and
Pork, will long hold its own in the valley of
the Ohio and in that Of the upper Mississippi.
As it recedes slowly Westward, Clover, and
Timothy, Butter aud Cheese, will press
closely on its footsteps.
Good neighbors, good roads, good schools,
good mechanics at hand, and good church
within reach, viii always be valued aud
soagh' few farmers are likely to disregard
them. Let whoever buys farm whereon to
live resolve 10 buy once for all, and let him
not forget that health is not only wealth but
happiuess-that az eligible location aud beau.
tifui prospect are elements Of enjoyment not
only for ourselves but our friends; let him
not fancy that all the land will soon be
gobbed up and held at exorbiiant prices, bu,
believe that money viii almost always com
msnd moneys worth of whatever may be
needed, so that be need not embarrass him.
self to-day through fear that he may not be
able to find sellers to morrow, and he can
hardly fail 70 buy judicioasly and thus escape
that worst species Of home esiekness-sick.
ness Of home.
IMPORTED INSECT Ann WPt-D prS-rc