The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-01-30
FARMING ON A LARGE SCALE.

| azlne has rather suggestive article on
| the business of agriculture, as it will be
| followed by the farmers of the future.
| People have been accustomed to regard
| farming as a quiet and somewhat poet
ical vocation, removed in a great degree
from the stronger and faster current of
social progress, and tending to exclude
the efforts and chances that wear out
| the lives of men in othe. modes of in
| dustry. The georges and pastorais of
the poets have greatly helped to give
us those ideas of country life and I'M
| der the older conditions of society their
descriptions had a good deal of truth
III them. But, little thought would
ten 1 to show how that " land-question,"
as it may be called, was, from the be-
ginning, a source of strife and turbu-
| lence. There is no need to recall the
agrarian troubles of the ancients- those
of the Roman Gracchi for instance-or
point to the rural population of Ire
land, so long engaged under Capt.
Rock, In expostulating, with blunder-
bCss, against the unreasonableness of
| the landlords-to say nothing of the
Sioux and Modocs wondering on what
part of the habitable continent they NAV
be allowed to kill their buffaloes and
| raise a little corn. In the nature of
things, the land will still continue to
be canse of much controversy and ull-
! rest everywhere, though, of course, the
elements of disturbance will change
with the change of the world. The
business of farming will fall more and
more under the laws of mechanical in
dustry and commerce, losing all its old
associations of poetry or war, and COM
| ing down to the hard level of political
economy. Evidences of such a result
| are making themselves visible every
| day, and among them we may set down
the nine thousand oranges" or so, the
farmers of which certainly mean busi-
ness and bucolics. The system of mod
ern production on a large scale in all
| the departments of human industry
must include those grangers or farms,
and do away in time with those little
holdings which contented the ideas of
agriculturalists in by-gone times, when
every reod of ground maintained its
mana praisworthy state of things, in
the opinion of the old philosophers.
| Statesmen, too, held the same opinion
and one of them, Roman consul, de-
| clared that the man was a dangerous
citizen of the commonwealth who held
| more than seven acres of land. In our
time, however, the increase of popula-
| ton makes larger amount of food pro-
| duction necessary and profitable, while
| the helps of chemistry and the facil-
| tiles of the railways will open the minds
| of the farmers to the "pos sibilities"
| existing in the ground they cultivate
| All our industries tend to aggregation
and it would be curious to speculate on
the time when the needs of economy
and large manufacture Will do away
i with the smaller centers of production.
| We see how the principle works already
| in a number of our industrial depart
| ments, and how impossible it would be
to check it, if any one were so unwise
as to attempt it. 1t is the natural law
of commerce, and all the improvements
aud discoveries of the time tend to
maintain it. 1t is, therefore, not IN
| reasonable to think that the production
of food for the increasing millions will
| be governed by the same law, making
large farms the rule, and abolishing
| the small ones.
Such a result would come sooner to
| the countries of the Old World where
the land IS worn out in great degree,
where the populations are very dense,
and where science and economy are
more needed, than to a land of large
fertile spaces like ours. The above
mentioned writer in Frazer elabora es
| the idea for the benefit of his country
men. He looks to a time when farming
| will be a commercial speculation, like
other branches of enterprise, and car
ried on by large joint-stock companies,
is suing shares of G10, G20, or ESQ, and
working on large areas, say of 5000 or
| 10000 acres. All the aids of modern
science, the discoveries of Day, Liebig
and other chemists, would of course be
| brought into the sys, EN-. Every great
| idea involves other great ideas, and this
vast model farm would help to solve the
problem at present perplexing the large
cities and towns-that is, the disposal
of their sewage. 1t would contract with
| its nearest town for such valuable
auxiliary; and the latter would be
| gathered into tanks on the most elevated
! part of the ground, whence it might be
most easily distributed. 1t was recent
! ly objected against this drainage that it
gave an unpleasant flavor tossthe vegeta-
hles and milk produced by its means
but the discussion that ensued in the
journals showed that such a result came
of bal management and over dosing,
and that, when properly diluted and
| mixed, the sewage was a very excellent
| fertilizer. Then, these great farms
would have their steam engines 20 grind
cake and corn, and crush vegetables.
| They wOnld have their own butchering
! departments, and would send their
meats direct to the cities, and still more
directly to their own agents or statesmen
In these cities, lessenlng the prices for
the public benefit. Along with all these
! appliances and means, say of a meat
! farm, they would have refrigerators, en-
abling them in summer to send out their
merchandise in the best condition.
! There would also be milk and cheese
| farms, and other specialties of the sort.
! The cultivatOrs of such farms would
| be able, withsthe help of manures and
| irrigation, to increase the number of
! their crops of grasses and vegetables
/ to stimula nature as it were. The
writer in Frazer suggests a cheap sort
of sugar as a manure for certain vegeta-
bles, and also shows how vegetation
may be helped or forced by the applica-
| ton of electricity. This last carries us,
| of course, somewhat beyond the agri-
cultural experience of the present day
but number of Observa ions and ex,
PEI iments tend to show that electricity.
which is sometimes applied with bene-
fit to the bodies of human being, can
$50 hAOAAAg thC SAO"Nh VI FNSoChdbASc,
and may yet revolutionize all our ideas
Of matter, motion, and growth. Every
| thing in fact seems to indicate that
farms will increas- as the world in |
creases in pop lation, and that the |
profit of cultivating tie earth will be as |
great as that of anv kind of industry or |
trade. The JEWS Rabbits have, or had. |
SAYING that 160 shillings in trade |
will give a man meat and wine, while |
100 shillings in land will give him only |
cabbage and salt. But the ange of |
the times will tend to rut that proverb |
out of countenance and lot of ground |
in the country may come to be as valua-
BILE as one in the city. Farms will be-
come factories. They will no longer be
portrayed in geOrgics and bucolics, but
indicated in prices current, and quoted |
on the stock exchange.
A PLEASANT GAME.-One of the most |
barbaric games handed down to the |
Romans from time immemorial has Just |