Year: 1871

or make permanent improvements in the
productiveness of his fam. He should re-
ject the stand still policy and strike for
progress. The question before us is how
to do all this to the best advantage. The
| first of the year is the time 10 examine and
look for the answer.


Farmers may sometimes learn from mill
tary men. When Bonaparte was in Egypt
he and many of his officers were riding q
dark night on the wide sea beach. They
suddenly found the tide rising up the
horses legs, and they were threatened with
drowning. All was fright and confusion,
but Bonaparte was sufficient for the emer-
gency. He instantly ordered his men t5
form hollow circle, horses heads out
wards. "Now ride ahead every man who
finds the water growing shallower, ride on ;
every one who finds the water growing
deeper, turn about and follow the firstp
This brought all safely to land.


The farmer must do the same. Among
the multitude of his operations he wants
to know which is involving him in loss,
and which is leading him on to profits.
These two points he must ascertain; and
then, in the words of Ricardo, cut short
his losses, and let his profits run on"
One of the first things to do, therefore,
is to make accurate observations on his





and measure accurately. A scale for
weighing all his cattle, that he may know
what management does best for them; for
weighing every load of hay, corn or po-
tatoes, that he may know the product of
each field, and to determine readily the
value of every animal which he proposes to
dispose of, will more than pay him its cost
every year, if properly used; without it,
he is like a sailor deprived of compass.
If not already done, every field should be
carefully measured with chain or tape line,
and the whole laid down on map. BY
this he may know at glance the number
of acres he allots to each crop, the time re-
quired to plow each field, and seed to sow
it, aud the value of the product per acre
after it is harvested. 1t is obvious what
an advantage the cultivator must possess
who adopts this mode of accurately de-
termining causes and results over the one
who knows only by vague guessing
whether he. is gaining or losing by his
different movements.


The farmer who is about to begin the
year should learn with reasonable de-
gree of accuracy, how much money and
manual and team labor he will require to
carry his work handsomely through the
season. The builder who is about to erect
house learns beforehand the exact eX-
pense, and knows every stick and plank
that will be wanted. He would be soon
involved in confusion if he should mis-
take the cost, and attempt to build ten
thousand dollar house with five thousand
dollars capital. There is no more fruitful
cause of bad sccess in farming than want
of means. Other things being equal the
more q man expends to carry on the
work of his farm judiciously, the more he
will make and the greater will be his
profits. In England the enormous taxes
imperiously compel man to this course,
and the only way he can do is to expend
! freely wherever necessity demands it.
Josiah Quincy once said: AT the great
Exposition in Paris met an English far
mer, who told me he had just leased an es-
tate for which he paid eight thousand dol
lars a year. l asked him what was the
first thing he did With a smile he re-
piled, The first thing did was to invest
ten thousand pounds sterling fifty thou.
sand dollars) in stock, utensils, seed and
Manures.'"


Now, the object of capital is not merely
to spend large sum of money it is for the
purpose of saving We once heard far
mer of limited means say, II am not rich
enough to be economical !" The weeds
we're overgrowing his crops, and he had
not the men at command to destroy them
while it could yet be done with little labor.
Another lost over hundred dollars in
the diminishing product of oats from late
sowing, when few additional dollars
paid to hired help would have put the
crop in early. Still another lost half his
turnip crop, with heavy cost besides, be-
cause he could not kill the weeds as they
came up, but allowed them to grow foot,
costing ten times the labor to eradicate
them.


but what shall we do if we positively
have no means to do work well and N
| good timer" This is exactly the question
we wish to answer. Examine carefully,
beforehand, and see how much work you
will have to do, and if you certainly have
! not the means to do it, reduce your land.
This may be done in different ways. One
is to sell part-which few can be per


suaded to do. Another is to rent part
or let it out on shares Another is to get
as much of the farm as practicable into
grazing fields and meadows In whatever


way the difficulty is met, determine not to
cultivate more land than you can do well.


But another step must be taken. Select
such a course as will accomplish as much


as practicable with given amount of
means. Do not attempt to do with your
|


If your land is weedy land there are very


few fields which are not), clear out the


weeds thoroughly by previous following,


by blowing and narrowing, and narrowing


and blowing, and do not plant crop that


will require the slow and expensive pro-


cess of hoeing and hand wedding till this


thorough cleaning is done. Again, two


or three plows are broken or prematurely


worn out by a few fixed stones. They
could perhaps be removed with the money


that would pay for one plow, and you
save the others and have an easily titled
piece of land in the bargain. Again, the
J wet parts of your fields keep you from
J plowing the rest in season, and you lose
in this way ten times as much as the cos
of running a few good underdrains through
the bottoms of the lowest places. 1t II
by applying money to the best advantage
that you can make it go thrice as far as
expending 1t without judgment


The farmer who has never kept accounts
} of his work will find it hard to decide how
, much he may be able to do next summe
in the best manner; but one who has KEEP
a constant reckoning" may now, thes
long winter evening, lay out his work
estimate the time that will be necessary Il
plow and fit each field for crops, the labo


for their cultivation, and the amount 70


harvesting and drawing in. He shoul
. allow at least twenty-five per cent 10
rainy days and contingencies.


| There are many other ways In which
{ saving may be made. The man VIII
a wastes one-fourth of his cattle fodder b.
\ allowing it to be trodden under foot an
: in the mud, will, in feeding forty tons :
A his twenty-five cattle, lose ten tons-wort
4 more in one year than the cost of goo
4 feeding racks. He who leaves his broke
@ tools unmended till they are wanted wi
r sometimes be thrown backward a week
a the delay happens just before a Ion
e storm. A selection of the best domesti
: animals is a matter of great economy. 4
Il COW that is a good mixer will cost n


more to keep than the most bony anim'
t and the worst mixer in the world and
,s half.blooded Berkshire, Suffolk or Esse
!. pig will manufacture twice as much por
u as a land.pike, from bushel Of corn.
q But whatever course in adopted In COZ