The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1881-11-24
The Proper Size of Farms.

Says the Baltimore Sun: "Pennsyl-
vania farmers have dcservedly q high
reputation, and it is Of interest to learu
the conclusion at which they have arrived
with regard to the proper size 0f farms.
In the South tract of lees than couple
of hundred acres is thought to be scarcely
deserving of the name Of n farm, and is
in danger of being contemptuously re-
ferred to as patch But it is different
in Pcnnsy where the intensive
rather than the extensive plan of farming
prevails. For facts illustrative of this i.
is sufficient to turn to the advertising
columns Of such paper as, sny, the York
Press, upon one page of which thirteen
farms, with barns, dwelling houses, out
houses, &c, complete, are described rs
for salc exclusive of lots not improved
with dwellings. OF the thirteen farms
the largest is one of 26l acres, which il
equipped with every convenience of
building, &C., such as Virginian would
expect only in an estate OF II thousand
acres The next largest has 200 acres,
but, rs il the proprietor thought himself
unable to cultivate SO much land profit
ably, there are, besides the owners resi-
dcnce, two tenant houses These are tho
great farms. Tho rest range from 100
acres down through declining series of
farms of 90, II, 52, SO, 81, Is (two), s, 7
and & acres in extent, and the detached
lots to be rented for farming purposes are
even smaller That good results may be
obtained from farms of these small sizes
has been too well proved to admit of
question. The wonder is that farmers of
other sections Of the country who com
plain of want Of capital do not dispose of
nf ,vtf ha
thus obtained initiate the example which
the York farmer long ago set them"
Such are the ideas where the hone of
profit rests on "heavy cropping" and i'm
proving the productive capacity of tho
farm. Where only q bale to every three
or four acres is expected, and the farmer
economy is based OH forty.bale product,
at n third Of bale to the acre, and ex-
penses to correspond, it becomes clear
that what with pasturage, tmberland
and food products, II 500.acre plantation
is necessary.
The point to be considered is the prac-
ticability of another schedule. 1t is Ger.
tain that one to five bales to the acre
have boen produced under the intensive
system OF farming, and it can be done
again. at one bale TO the acre, the land
necessities would be reduced two thirds,
so that he could plan for a two hundred
acre farm instead of five hundred. If
we assume that such heavy, cropping
must be the result of corresponding
labor and expense in fertilization, which
cannot be met in one year, could it not
be approached gradually? Could not
five acres per year be fertilized with econ-
omy and activity? To make one acre
do the work of three is m enterprise
worth trial. 1t is high road to wealth,
more practical and certain than is open
to the majority of business undertakings,
and if pushed with vigor and judgment,
bouud TO result in wealth. The great
English farmer, Meeks, has motto by
which he governed all his operations. A
"far crop makes nothing. All the profits
of farmers lie in heavy products, and
ruin follows light crops"
Now, it is not wonderful that farmers
become impatient of such hints rs these
from outsiders. They know by expe-
rience the difficulties they must encoun-
ter, but they have made no exhaustive
trial of The change to so.called intensive
farming. But We can say this mnch, on
almost universal testimony: The bale to
three acres is a known and proved failure.
It viii never do, and as labor becomes
scarce and high, so that policy becomes
more suicidal and hopeless. The plain
teaching of experience is that there must
be change, and that change must con-
sist in cultivating less land and making
it produce more.