New-York tribune., 1870-02-05
WUA1'IKNOW OF FARMING.
M HORACE GREELEY.
gYIEG \, FARM.

cl,eaper than poor-that the former may be bongbt
more cleapy than it can DO made. Yet this, BIKE
most truths, may be given uBGae emphasis. lt
should be considered in the light Of the less 9bvios
truth that Erey farmer may make ddJas ageoas use Of
SOME poor land The smallest farm should have Its
strip or belt of forest the larger should nave an
abundance and variety of trees and sterile stony
land grows many if not most trees tbritily. Even
at the risk of arOusing Western prejudice, MAINTAIN
that New gland and all broken, hly, rocky conn
tries have a decided advantage abundantly counter
balanced, doubt over regions of great ferDIliy
and nearly uniform facility, in that human stupidity
and mole-eyed greed can never wholly divest them
of forests-hat their sterile crags and steep accly
ties must mainly be left to wood forever. AyaFee
may strip them of their covering of to-day; but, de-
flying the plow and the spade, they cannot be 80
denuded that they will not be speedily reelothed
with trees and foliage.
lam not "a believer that - Five Acres" or Ten
Acres suffice for farm. | know where money Is
made on even fewer than five acres: but they who
do it are few and men of exceptional capacity and
diligence. Their achievements are necessarily con
fined to the vcinage of cities or manufacturing VII
lagos. The great majority of all who live by AgrI-
culture want room to turn upon-want to grow grass
and keep stocl-and, for sucb no garden or po-
tato- patch will answer. They want genuine farms
Yet 20 where you may in this country. you will
hear farmer saying of his neiChbor " He has too
much land" even where the criticism might justly
DO reciprocated. We cannot all be mistaken on this
head
There are men who can each manage thousands OF
acres Of tage just there those who can skill
fully WELD an army of hundred thousand men,
Napoleon said there two of this class in the
Europe of his day. There are others who cannot
81, - inSt
through neglect or oversight Rules must be adapted
to average capacities and circumstances. lie who
expects to live by collaborating needs many more
acres than he who is intent grain-grOwiDg; while
he who cOntempates vegetable, root, and fruit cul-
ture needs fewer acres STILL As TO the direction OF
his efforts, each will be . law unto himself.
III were asked by young man intent on farming
to indicate the proper area for him, | would say,
Buy Just so large farm haif your means riH pdB
for In other words, " If you worth $4,000, in
vest half Of it in Land. the residue in stock, tools,
&c; and observe the same rule of proportion,
whether you be worth 100000 or only $1,000. III
you are worth just nothing at all, would invest III
land the half of that and no more. In other words,
| would either wait to earn 500 or over, or push
Westward till found land that costs practically
nothing.
This, then, take be the gist of the popular
criticism our farmers as having unduly enlarged
their borders: They hare more land than they hare cap
tai to stock and til 10 The best ddrdatage. lie who mas
but fifty acres has too much if he lets part of his
land lie idle and unproductiye Tor lack of team or
hands TO till it efficiently; while he who has thou
sand acres has too much If he has the means
and talents wherewith to make the best of it all
have said that consider the soil Of New-Engand
as cheap. all things considered, for him who is able
to buy and work it, as that of Minnesota or Arkansas
that urge migration to the West only upon those
who cannot pay for farms in the old States. doubt
whether the farmers of any other section have in the
average done better throughout the last ten years.
than the butter-makers of Vermont. the cheese
dairymen of this State. And yet there is. IN the
ridgy rocky pacV character of most of Our Eastern
farms an insuperabe barrier TO the most economic,
effective cultivation. If the ridges were further
apart-if each rocky or gravelly knoll were not in
close proximity to a strip of bog or mOrass-it would
be different BIT the genius of our age points un-
mstakably tocutiyation by steam or some other me-
chancal application of power; and this requires spa
cious fields with few or no obstacles to the equable
progress of the plow ! apprehend that, for this
SON. the growth Of breadcorn eastward OF the llud-
son can never more be considerably extended so
long as the boundless fertile praries can easily
pour their exhaustess supplies upon us. Fruits,
grow, probably in ever-ncreasng abundance; but
we of the East will buy our bread-cOm 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 sup
planted-Grass, Fruits. Vegetables, Timber If a
farm will also produce good Corn or Wheat that is
recommendation but let him place higher value
ON those capacities which will be generally
quired and drawn upon.
In the West the case is different; for though
Wheat-cuture still recedes before the footsteps of
advancing population, and Minnesota may soon
cease to grow for Others as Western New-fork,
ONO Indiana. and Northern Illinois, have already
done, yet Indian Corn, being the basis OF both Beef
and Pork will long hold its in the Valley of the
Ohio and in that of the Upper Mississippi. As it re-
ccdes slowly Westward. Clover and Timothy, Butter
and Cheese, will press closely on its footsteps.
Good neighbors. good roads, good schools good
mechanics at hand and good church within reach,
will always be valued and sought; few farmers are
likely to disregard them. Let whoever buys a farm
whereon to live resolve to buy for all. and let
him not forget that health is not only wealth but
happness-that an eligible location and beautiful
prospect elements of enjoyment not only for our
selves but our friends: let Linn not fancy that all
the land Will be eobbed mp and held at exorbl-
tant prices. bnt believe that money will almost
always command moneys worth of whatever may be
needed so that he need not embarrass himself to-day
through fear that he may not be able to find sellers
tomorrow and he can hardly fail to buy judiciously
and thus escape that worst species of homesckness
sickness of home
vi
LAYING OFF 4 FARM-PASTURING
Al. .l,. int li.l paV
and occupant of a farm. should, before doing much
beyond growing "A crop IN the ordinary way, study