Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1878-08-01
NUMBER 81.
Wrong Ideas Of Farming.

There are great many people who
entertain the idea that the larger the
farm they can have, the larger amount
OF profits they can get from it. Now the
amount OF wealth possessed by the ma-
iori;y OF our farmers will not admit OF
carrying on those large farms rs they
should be. IL person is able, do not
object to his owning large territory OF
land, but do think people err when
they try 10 cultivate so much of their
farms. They are not able ,nsuy of them
TO cultivate the land as IL should be.
They do not have the manure TO enrich
the ground with, necessary to produce
those crops desired. This spreading 3
few loads OF manure over four or five
acres of ground does not pay as well rs
it would 10 put those few loads on one
acre. see farmers ia my own neigh
borhood who indulge in this delusion.
They will plough four or five acres,
/ -pread on what little dressing they have
manufactured. and it is put on so spar
ingly that Its effects are invisible. Ii
seems to me this is entirely wrong. 1t
F requires almost five times as much la
Dor TO cultivate five acres as il does TO
till one. Now, Mr.. Farmer, do You
get five times as much produce from the
five acres as from The one acre, provid-
ing Won put the whole of your manure
on the one acre? Certainly not. Then,
ify ou can raise 200 bushels of potatoes
on one acre, would it not be better to do
it than TO cultivate the four or five acres
and not get any mores Ii is not only
so with potatoes, but with everything
else. One great trouble, they try TO
cultivate more than they can handle to
good advantage. 1t is not always the
largest farms that produce the best crop,
or the most profitable. A farm con-
tanning forty acres OF cleared land is as
much as one man can handle 10 good
advantage. Ii does not paw TO hire
much help, tor 10 own a farm and hire
il carried on seems TO take large share
OF the profits. We have excellent soil
for farming In this state of Maine, but
the demand for hay, heretofore existing
by our contiguitv 10 The numbering bust
ness in some parts of the state, and tina
OF horse raising, has operated injurously
by exhausting the farms. But, we are,
| think, trying 10 recover from the latter
extreme, and the farmers are becoming
convinced THAI neat stock raising, more
economical modes of making aud saw
ing manu- res and a more thorough cul-
tivation OF the soil are indispensable to
general success in farming; some are
becoming convinced already, that they
have been farming wrong, that they can
by culIiyatiug less ground and manuring
more heavily, double, yes, triple the
crops per acre, and thus make a saving
III expense and labor. regard farming
as science, and think have seen
some OF its benefits developed by being
practiced in my own community TO such
al extent that it has Invested the farm
egs UNNECESSARILY OF the preiudices
which existed against book-farming and
agricultural periodicals which are now
studied with interest. We can not be
insensihle TO the fact that the iniorIna-
ton thus derived in regard TO farming
Improvements, awakens energy in prac-
tice, new desires Tor more extensive
knowledge, and love for the employ
men,, operating as moving power
10 the community, approxima,ing to
more perfect system Of farming .-Letr-
id0H journal.
i. +. TINKHAM.