Waste In Farming

Isot less than 20 por cent, ot tlifi entire capital omployed in formina in this eoun try ia wasted. This 13 low ostimato, for on niany farms tho amount of Waete is more than doublé tbo sum named. Perhaps tho soaroityand high price of labor in some loonlities muy bo considored a reasonnble excuse for this I088, but wi hold that no man should undeattilco more than he cn aocomplish without witste. Xho first and most prolific sourco of waste oan rc.idily be traced to largu farms, as nine out of every ten of our farmers own or undortake to work twico aa mnoh land as they are able to with any sort of credit or prolit to thom3ü!vea or others. Iu spring moro corn, potntoes, anií oth er orops requirirjg culturo duringthe poriod of growth, ar put in than can be attendod to, and the resulta are that haying and harv(iatin;{ of graiu orowd upön the hoeing, and traste occurs on all sidos. Scaroity of labor is always put forward a ■ an excuse for this waste, but the farmer was woll awarc thot ho could not obtain the required amount long before his crops wero put into the ground, and should Lavo known just hovr nmny men were required to tako care of and harvest any ceitain number of acres of any particular erop. We are not disposed to excuse a man for waato on the score of ignorance, ospocially in fanning, becauso tho busi ness ifi ono woll understood. Contrary to tho general idea, wo bolieve that "the curse of American agrionl - turo is cheap lands, producing a low standard of farming, and eucouraging a grasping disposition to possess broad acres, with a oorresponding negleot of thu samo when once they are obtaiued. The first thought of the faimer or his sons is, how much land oan I purchusu, not how much will my capital pormit me to boy and iraprove. In ninety-nine cases out of overy hundivd a man puts his enthi ital into land, and then runs in d.-bt for few acres more, resarving r.othing with whioh to make iinproTements or parchase stuck. A metchant who would put his entire capital into a buildintr, and leave himsolf 110 capital with which to commenoe trade, wo-uld not deserve pity if lie did fail in business : and yet thi." whftt a ma'íority of our farmers havo been and are still doing. Tho rtfsuit of suoh a system is a plavish lifo í'or a term of years in order to procure stook, iinplements, barns, and, fiuolly, a comfortablo house for the wifo and ianiily. If tho wife and somo of tlio oliicr childreu are killud by hard Work, it is put dowrw a " disponsaticii of Providenoe," and tae poor taraier is consolitd by hisneighbora by beingtold to "bow to the will of Uod" and inarry again. Now there is but 01K1 way to remedy this widospread ovil, and that is to own less land ; make it producá botter crops, and theroby prevent n waste of time and labor. A mail Bhould never jmt mort1 than one-hülf his cajiital into land, 110 matter how much or how lirtlo ho may have. We can offer no bettor proof of this wjdespread evil cf owning nii)re land tban oan be judiuiously cultivatod thau the avertipe yieid of any of our principal farm produets. The averago yield oi corn, for instanoe, in same of the Middle and Southern Stato.-, is not abovo ten bushela por a'To, nwl in Uiinois seldoiu above twcnty ; whilo tliose farmers who plant only on good, riuh laad, and attend to the culturo, in theswaainolocalitios, o'otüin froni fifty to ono hundred bushels per aero. Thuso rosults prove conciuiv,'ly that thousands of acres are annu:illy plantod with this grain, and the labor expended thcreon is almost, if not entiraly, wasted. The same is truo in regard to uil kinds of grain cnltiyated in this country. A man starts out in spring to plant twenty acres of corn, when reaÜy he has not sufficient help to put in ten, aud the re sult is a voiy small return for tho labor expended, and 1ob3 corn than would havo beeu obtaioed upou ten acres with seTénty-five por cent. of tao capital r.xj -nded thureon. cianuro is wasted by being spread so thinly over a largo sarfaco of ground that the benefit is soaroely to be percoived, wiiile if a less area received the entire aiaount it would not only bring rmmodiate and a large incroaso in tho erop grown, but bo pormauently onrichtd. We frequently hear the old story of ur.favorable weuther, and that the wheat sulfer for want of, or a superubundance of, moisture, which nieans situply that the soil has boen liurriedly preparod for th recoptiun of the seud, being neither worked deep, subsoiled, undordrained, uor otherwise put in a proper condition to insure a good erop, in favorable or unfivorable seasons. Meadows and pastures fail frem the same cause, and climato comes in for all the blame. If land owners could bo porsuadod to solí one-half their real estáte, and expond th nmount obtuiuod on tho other half, thoy might obtain greater profits and more leisure hours. Money and labor ar wastod in fearful amounts upon poor stock and cheap implemento, as woll as upon poor lands and Hght crops of grain ; in tact, we are a nation of gpendthrifts, althougli few are willing to confess it in their own case, but can roadily seo that some neiirhbor is sailintr in tho boat we have desoribed.