The Delaware farmer., 1883-09-14
Small Farming vs.. Large Farming.

Col. Burt, Of the celebrated Black Horse cav.
airy, Of Virginia, before the war was the owner
Of some very large and beautiful plantations on
the James River. He owning, il we recoect
rightly, some 10000 acres. One estate that OF
ClrTnont contained some 90, 600 acres In con-
versatOn with him some lew months after the
war, we advised hlm as means OF recuprrat, <
his broken fortunes to dispose Of halt Of This cs.
tate by ling alternate Sc lons of 90 or 100 acre
each to nOrthrrn farmers. we arguing thar in
a tew years the sections whch he reserved.
would lie very largely il creased in value, # not
quite up to the value he then put upon the
whole property at least very nearly so. He
cOmbated our argument by saying that farming
on large scale could he mach more economic
ally and protitahly conducIei than on small
scale. Tnat properly 60 Iducted the estate Of
Clermout wouli VI ID greater produce ard
larger profit if en III parcel, than it d vlded
up into two hundred farms Ot one hundred acres
each. To sustain his argument, he quoted as
an illustration the steamship Great Eastern, EN-
draynrng To show thar the expe ses Of running |
her were less in proportion To her tnnage than |
that of good sized schooner etc. This was an
unlutulate illu trptinn for him, for il ever there
" $ wolf Of "A ship, it was the Great Eastern,
tor she ate ont the porkets of several sets of
owners. But a few years forwards he saw the
lalld"y of his views, and adopted another course.
We have he rd much said about the immense
farms OF II lew individuals IN the Western States,
and newSpap rs which know but little about
such mttters speak in glowing terms of the
thirty. furry or fry thousand bushels OF wheat
Dr corn which the pruprivtOrs harvest every year.
We hear every now and then, Of Enghshmen
either in person, or in partnership buying up
immense ranches for the purpose of going into
attic or sheep farming. Tueir native love OF
arge landed estates, and the cheapness Of the
ands induces them 10 do this and no doubt for
he capital employed they reap liberal int rest,
md so far as they are individually concerned it
$ probably n gOnd inveN'm, nt But it does not
necessarily fuluw thar cattle raising on ranches
) more profitable, than ON ordinary grazing
arms.
On any well conducted grazing farm. two
cres are considered sufficient for the yearly 7
lppOrt Of a COW. or heeve. On Oae of these
A. ches ten acres is scare, " enough. On |
lOderate sized. skilfully conducted grain farm, S
crop Of wheat at the rate Of twenty bushels, Z
r OfcOrn at the rate of forty bushels to the acre
lay be readily had and in mixed farming the l
rOduct and profit would be still greater. The r
IMMENSE farms at the West to which we allude
aY perhaps for the time being, be more profit f.
ne, but they are Eating up their capital. which
US in the virgin fertility Of the soil; the same
OcesS which for generations was carried on
the Eastern States, and which is continually
.ing carried on toward the setting sn. :
The history Of agriculture in ev, ~ country of >
e globe. shows that the greatest aggregate z
eld OF the crops peculiar to The country are OBJ. 2
nsd from small farms. France and Belg um
e notable instances OF this in Europe, and Ja-
n, in Asia. Probably there is 10 country in
Z world that yields greater returns OF crops to
: acre than Japan. where ten acres is large
m; end yet the peOIle are well fed, well 10
thed, Intelligent well educated, and have all III
c"morts OF life necessary for their climate.
gland has tried large farming and it has to a
Re extent failed, notwithstanding the majority
her farmers have been the most intellige t,
buSiness.hke men of their class, not sur. =;
sed in these qualifications by those of any sj
Ter nation.