Year: 1861

Plant No More Than You Can Cultivate.


With possible war abroad and an actual
war at home, farm products can hardly fail to
command high prices


In view Of this state of facts the papers
teem with recommendations to farmers to SOW
and plant as great q breadth of land as pos
sible. One good man in Massachusetts, has
become so excited that he has issued the fol-
lowing circular:


WAR, AND FAMINE.
WAR Is Upon Us, AND NO ONE CAN TELL WHERE
IT WILL EsD.


To forestall scarcity Of provisions, which will
be sure to follow, let farmers and all persons hav
Ing ardole land, plant as much a. possible this
spring.


PidHt double yox, xsral amount Of land or.r.
Sprlng rye ard wheat, corn, oats, barley, beans
oue ekwhsat, sHd potatoes can still be planted.
April 20, 1851


The author has our sympathy in his patri.
otto efforts to avoid q famine. We NAV ex-
press our doubts, however, if his advice s'to
plant double the usual amount Of land over,'
| is the best that could be given. One of the
great drawbacks in American agriculture is q
tendency to SOW and plant too much land A
few days ago, we were walking over the wheat
fields on large farm in this county; some
looked very well, aud some looked very poor;
here the crop was all that could be desired
and there it looked as though it would not
give back the seed After showing us the
effect Of undertaking, of blowing in a crop
OF ouckwhest, Of sowing several hundred bush
els of lesched ashes, of sowing early and SOW
ing late, the farmer remarked, Il have made
up my mind to one thing-never again to SOW
any more wheat than can put in we'll"
1t is to extra culture rather than to sowing
an extra breadth of land, that we must look
Tor an increase in our agricultural produc-
tioDs. We would by no means advocate any
retrenchment in the extent Of land planted
he present season. Plant sIl you can, but
let the chief aim be to give all you do plant
the best of culture. Look at the great corn
growing region of the west. See what a diff
terence there is in the corn grown on some
fields to others in the same section. Here the
land is dry, clean, and well cultivated, and
the crops are good in the next field it is wet,
hes been planted late,-the weeds flourish,
while the corn is yellow and sickly. Can
Lothlng be done TO improve this state of
things! 1t is not fancy picture. In a tour
through the west the one great fact that i'm
pressed as was, that the immense extent of
country that one travels through, between
hcre and st. Louis, was not producing half
what might be obtained by little extra cul-
ture A little labor expended in drainage
would be OF great benefit, while better pleW-
ing, and more thorough cultivation with q
horseshoe between the rows, would add mill
lions of bushels to the aggregate crop Of the
country.


Even in western New York-probably one of
the best farmed sections in the United States,
1t is painful to see the immense amount of
land that is not more than half titled Look
on our spotted wheat fields. The unusually
severe weather in March destroyed many acres
that would otherwise have produced fair crops
but We must not attribute the loss wholly to
ths unfavOrable season. Acres and acres are
still saturated with cold stagnant water, Civ
ing one the shiyers to look at them. Look at
that man blowing up an old meadow, for corn
with an acre in the centre so wet that he has
to plow the lot in three triangular pieces,
occupying almost as much time in turning
round ss in actual blowing How much better
1t would have been to drain it. He can afford
1t: il would pay, and there arc men enough
who lack employment. 1t would then be the
most productive land on the farm. This is
not an isolated case. 1t is difficult to End a
farm where there is not moro or less land un-
productive from lack of drainage.


"Plant double your usual amount Of land
over" if you will; but let us urge you, for
your own sake and for the sake of our national
prosperity. to attend to the improvement of
the soil.-GeneSee Farmer