The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1871-10-12
Too Much Land.

In this county, ABOVE Ill oInoie'
land-good, tillable, fertile land-ls
abundant and cheap. This reason.
perhaps, moro than any other, has
caused our farmers to fall into the
erroneous notion that they could not
OF have too much land; or, in other
/ " 0, DIS, they could not own and Guilt
vate too large farms for profit. This
lonc-estab!ished idea, that, in order
to Q successful as tiller Of the soil,
one must cultivate a large tract Of
land, has been over and over practi-
cally exploded. We know from: ex-
per.ence that farmers are, as a class,
tim;d, careful, conservative men-pot
given to wild speculation, averse to
any, or at least sudden changes in
business. They like to the old, we'll
beaten path. When they have lit-
tie money to invest they are very apt
to buy more land, and, without any
additional help, they try to cultltate
lit in addition to the old farm. In
looking back for scoro Of years. we
notice that the facilities for perform
| Ing farm labor have been wonderfully
increased. The genius Of progress
has not made greater advances in any
department Of productive industry
than in that Of agriculture. The
number of valuable lahor-saving i'm
plemcnts for farm and garden that
have been brought into practical use
within few years has been legion,
and the national result should have
been every where deeper, and more
Thorough and better tillage; but, in
stead, we find our farmers buy more
land, and continue as before the same
loose, struggling cultivation. In the
Eastern and Middle States, with a
few exceptions, the farms are too
large. Double the amount of land is
occupied and cropped, after a fashion,
than ought to be, with the labor and
capital the owner can command.
Manure and attention to the crop, are
applied too thinly and sparingly to
produce market results; besides, on
large farms worked with little help,
a great amount of time is spent in
travel. Farmers would be surprised
if they could have the actual time, in
| days and hours, placed before them
which they spend in the course of
one year in useless travel over their
largo farms.
Again, on large farms cut into nu'
merous lots by expensive fences, after
the old method, the time and labor
spent in looking after and keeping in
repair these fences, equals, in many
cases, one-third the net proceeds OF
the entire farm. Concentration is
what we need. Less land, less travel
more labor, more manure, and more
intelligence to understand the posi-
bilities and the demands Of each crop
Our farmers must undertake to dc
less, and do it better. If they would
sell or give away part Of their land,
and then double the labor and man
ure for the balance, they would find
the credit sido of their bank account
increased, and there would be less
complaining that "farming don't pay"
If properly conducted, there is no
business more permanently profitable
than farming. There always is and
always will be a demand for
the products Of the farm,
When men learn in this business, as
they soon learn in every other, that
they, must not undertake to do more
than they can do we'll, then will they
prosper, and tho sons Of farmers will
learn to love their vocation. and not
be possessed of an itching desire tc
"go into store"
Our English, Swede and German
emigrant farmers arc teaching the
American people some valuable lessons
in farming, the chief Of which is that
small farms are more profitable thar
large ones. They believe in special
crops, plenty of manure, and stirring
the soil often. Let us heed the les
son. Cor. Country Gentleman.