The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1872-06-22

enable him to weigh half an ounce. Next
to this and equally important is it, to have
scales that are absolutely accurate. Any
others are worse than none. Get the best
always, and as we have had ample expert
ence in this matter of weighing, our
advice is-Get Fairbanks Scales, whether
for the house or the barn. Their RELIABLE
ity has been SO thoroughly established, that
they are recognized as the acknowledged
standard in this country.-Er.
WAmerican farmers can not be too
often reminded that what we should
aim at is, fewer crops, cleaner culture, and
larger yield per acre. We are a great
beef.eating people, and are taking kindly
to good mutton when it can be found
Already large proportion of the beef con-
sumed in the Atlantic cities is raised west
of the Mississippi. The price for the moment
happens to be low, but it will not remain
SO long. The farmer who raises good beef
or mutton in New England, New York,
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,
Iowa, or any of the older settled States,
need not fear that the half-wild cattle of
Texas or elsewhere are going to drive him
to the wall. There is no sort of danger.
Unaided, nature can not compete with
agriculture any better than the Indian can
compete with the Anglo-Saxon. Our pop
ulation is rapidly increasing, and the
demand for meat will continue to increase
from year to year. The causes which lead
to an over-supply for few months are
only temporary The demand is unceas-
ing, and he is wise farmer who looks
ahead and quietly and perseveringly i'm
proves his farm and his stock. He is GER
tain of his reward. Wool, mutton, beef,
pork, cheese, butter, milk, poultry, and all
other animal products will be wanted more
and more as the condition of the world
improves. There are millions OF people,
even in Europe, who seldom taste fresh
meat. An Irishman eats double the meat
and does double the work here that he did
at home.
Even the chinese in this country eat
| meat as soon as they can earn money
enough to buy it.
The point want to get at is this: We
have large country. Land is compare
lively cheap, and labor comparatively high.
Crops are great in extent but small in yield,
and many of our farms are getting more
weedy and less productive. Now, what
we must aim at is to make them cleaner
and richer. We must devote less land to
the production of wheat and other grain
that is sold, and more to the production OF
such crops as are fed out to animals on the
farm. We all know it is better to raise
300 bushels of wheat from ten acres than
to pillow, seed, and reap twenty or thirty
acres to get the same amount. We obtain
no more money for the crop in the one
case than in the other, but the profits are
quadrnpled. The maket is not slutted with
grain, and there will be more meat and
wool to sell, and more manure to use. To
bring this about, we must summer failow
when necessary; SOW clover more frequent
ly, and not sell pound; let our land lie
longer in grass and when it is broken up
and planted to corn, cultivate it very thor
oughly, and not overcrop it before it is
seeded down again. In some cases it will
pay to summer fallow, and then seed the
land down to grass without grain crop.
We must aim to save labor, enrich our
land, reduce the area under tillage, and,
when it is plowed, cultivate thoroughly to
kill weeds and develop the latent plant
food in the soil Plant-food is the farmer S
capital. 1t is present in large quantities
in most of our soils, but great proper
ton of it lies idle. Our profits will be in
proportion to the amount of this plant
food, that we can render available and
keep in active circulation without allowing
it to diminish faster than fresh quantities
are developed from the soil by the decom-
posing and disintegrating action of the
atmosphere. -Anserican Agriculturist.