The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1870-02-09
What I Know Of Farming.
by HORACE GREELEY.

Buying u thTms
No one need be told at this day that
good land Is cheaper than pOOr-that the
former may be bought more Cheaply than
1t can DO made. Yet this, like most truths
may be given undue emphasis. 1t should
be considered in the light Of the less Obvi-
Gus truth that Erery farmer may make .HSC
of SOME poor land. The smallest farm
should have its strip or belt Of forest; the
larger should have an abundance and
variety Of trees; and sterile, stony land
grows many IL not most trees tlriNily.
Even at the risk OF arousing Western pre-.
iudice, maintain that New England, and
all broken, billy, rocky countries, have
decided advantage (abundantly counter
balanced, no doubt over regions of great
fertility and nearly uniform facility, In that
human stupidity ind mole.eycd greed can
never wholly divest them OF iorests-that
their sterile Crags and steep activities
must mainly be lcA TO wood forever.
Avarice may strip them Of their covering
orto-day; but, defying the pillow and the
shade, they cannot be 80 denuded that
they will not be speedily reclothGd with
trees and foliage. !:
am not a believer that "Flvc Acres
or "Ten Acres suffice for farm.
know where money Is made on even fewer
than five acres; but they who do 1t arc
few, and men Of exceptional capacity and
diligence, Their achievements are neces'
sariiy confined 70 the viClnagc OF cities or
manufacturing villages. The great ma
iority Of oil who live by Agriculture want
room to turn upOn-want TO grow, grass
and keep stOCk-and, for such, no mere
garden or potato patch will answer. They
want genuine farms.
Yet, go where you may in this country,
YOU will hear n farmer saying of his neigh
Dor, "He Inns loo much land" even where
the criticism might justly be rCCiprocatcd,
We cannot all he mistaken OH this head.
There arc men who can each manage
thousands Of acres Of tillage, just ~ there
are those who can skill(illy WELD nm mr.
my of n hundred thousand men. Napo'
leon said there were two Of this class in
the Europe Of his day. There are Others
who cannot handle 4 hundred acres, SC
that nothing Is lost through neglect OF
oversight Rules must be adapted TO av'
etage capacities and circumstances. lie
who expects. to live by cattle.rearing needs
many more acres than lie who is intent on
grain growing; while he who COntcm'
plates vegetable, root, and fruit culture
needs fewer acres still As 10 the dirCc'
ton of his efforts, cAcl will be q law unto
himself
III were asked by young man intent
on farming 10 inliCatO the proper area fol
him, would say, Buy jHStSo large q farm
AZ hdkf yOur means tnia 1My for. In other
words, "lr you are worth 100000, invest
halfof it In land, the residue in stock
tools, &C.; and observe tho same rule oi
proportion, whether you be worth 81 ,OOO,'
600 or only $1,000 lfyou are worth just
nothing at all, would invest In land the
half Of that, and no more. In OthcI
words, would either wait 10 earn $500 Of
over, or push Westward till l found land
that costs practically nothing.
This, then, ! take to be the glst Of thu
popular criticism on our farmers rs hay
inG unduly enlarged their borders: 1hes
h6ve m0re land than they hGN cHpItdt "a
stock and tn to tie best ddrdntGgc. ucwhC
has but fifty acres has too much If he let!
part Of his land lie idle and unprOducttyt
for laCk Of team or hands to till II ctti
GENTLY; while lie who Inns n tlousanC
acres has mono too much It he has thu
means and talents wherCwith to make tht
best Of 1t all.
l have said that consider the soil o
New England MS cheap. all things consid
cred, for him who Is able 10 buy and wort
it, as that Of Minnesota or Arkansas-tha
I urge migration To the West only npor
those who cannot pay for firms In the oil
States. Il doubt whether the farmers o
any other section have, in the average
done better, throughout the Inst ten years
than the butter.mRkcrs Of Vermont. th'
cheese-tlairymen of this State. And yet
there is, in the rldgy, rocky, pHtchy char
actor Of some oil. our Eastern farms, an In
superable barrier 10 tho most economic
effective cultivation. If the ridges wert
further apart-if each rocky or grNvelly
knoll were not In close proximity 70 ,
strip of bog or morass-it would be differ
cnt, But the genius Of our age points
Enthusiastically 10 cultivation by steam o.
some other mechanical application o
power; and this requires spacious fields
with few or no obstacles TO he cquablt
progress Of tho pillow. lapprchCn1 TINT
Tor this reason, the growth Of bread corr
eastward Of the Hudson can never NOR
be considerably extended, so long rs thu
boundlGss, fertile prairieS can 80 easily
pour their exhaustleRs supplies upOl us
Fruits, Vegetables, Roots and Grass, VI
must continue 10 grow, probably In ever
increasing ABUNDANCE; but We OF the Eas
will buy or bread.corn largely II no
mainly IRON the West.
He, therefore, who buys land In tht
Eastern States should regard primarily II
capacity TO produce those crops In which
the East can never be supplanted-Grass
Fruits, Vegetables, Timber. Is farm
will also produce good Corn or Wheat
that Is a recommendation: but let hin
place higher value on those capacitte
which will be more generally requires
and drawn upon.
In the West, tho case Is different; fol
though Wheat.culturc still rccedGs 6etor
. the footsteps Of advancing population, IN,
] Minnesota may soon cease to grow 70
others, as Western New York, Ohio, Ii
lfank, and Northern Illinois, have alread
} done, vet Indian Corn, being the basis c
both Bccfand Pork, will long hold its ow
In tho Valley Of tho Ohio md In that ofth
Upper Mississippi AS II recGdes slOwl.
{ Westward, Clover and Timothy, Butte
and Cheese, will press closely on Its fool
steps. 'a-,