ent set of principles and system of practice, though it may have some slight or apparent foundation in the difference of conditions, is nevertheless pregnant with mischievous error.

Whatever the distinction is, or ought to be, between the modes of culture practised in the two sections of the country, it is supposed to be founded on the fact that in one of these localities land is cheap and labor is dear, while in the other the case is reversed; and also perhaps on the further fact, that where the land is lowest in price, and most abundant, it is, at the same time, the most productive. This at least appears to be the general argument for the Western system.

It does not, however, very clearly appear how the low price and fertile quality of Western land, or even the high price of Western labor, can justify the repudiation of some of the soundest maxims of husbandry. It is not entirely evident that a given amount of corn is more profitably raised from a large area of land than from one of half the extent, even admitting the land to cost less and the labor more than they do at the East. That this may be the case to a limited extent, and in exceptional instances, is very possible. But that it is true in general and in the long run, it would be hard to show. Nor is it easy to perceive the economy of turning cattle into the cornfield during fall and winter to browse on the hard and juiceless remnants of a once nutritious stover from which alternate frost and sun have expelled all the nutriment. Equally difficult also would it be to

justify, upon any sound principle, the improvident practice of allowing the cattle and other stock of the farm to enter the cornfield, at the maturity of the grain, to do their own harvesting.

It is urged, in defence of this practice, that the difficulty of procuring help sometimes renders it unavoidable; but if the farmer, instead of planting a half section or more of land, had planted one-half or one-fourth of that extent, adopting at the same time the best modes of culture, he would realize in the end a larger crop, and the labor and expense of harvesting would be greatly reduced. Instead of rambling over miles of territory to gather up a scattered and lean crop, he would have a compact, abundant, and profitable yield within a small compass-a crop that would be easily harvested, and that would pay well for gathering, even at some extra expense for the labor.

The whole of the argument in support of the prevalent system of Western culture seems to be an inversion of the usual mode of reasoning. The superior quality of the soil, so far from being an excuse for careless cultivation, is the best reason in the world. why it should be treated in the most thorough manner. It is only the thorough treatment of the land that reveals the fulness of its wealth. The high price of labor, instead of being a reason for diffusing it over a large surface, is an argument for concentration-for bringing it within the smallest compass, where every blow tells, and every stroke is sure of its legitimate effect.

The man who should employ a carpenter at three dollars a day to drive nails, and put him in a position where he could only hit every tenth nail on the head, would be very likely to complain of the expense of labor, but he would hardly assign that as an excuse for his folly; on the contrary, he would find in the price of labor the strongest argument for reforming his practice. Let him place his man in a situation where every blow drives a nail home, and he will not consider the work dearly paid for, whether it costs one dollar a day or three.

It is proper, however, to remark, and it is gratifying to know, that this uncalculating and unprofitable mode of husbandry is by no means universal, in any section of the country, and that there are throughout the West many enlightened farmers to whom these strictures have no application. There is, indeed, through all that country, a marked and increasing tendency toward a better system of culture. progress of recent years proves that the evil complained of is steadily diminishing and disappearing under the influence of diffused intelligence, of the increasing number of farmers' clubs, and of other multiplied facilities and valuable sources of useful knowledge.

The

In proportion as men advance in reading and thinking, they gradually acquire the habit of getting a larger amount of products from a less amount of land; and our Western farmers are already beginning to discover that a more careful, calculating, and concentrated culture will produce more corn from an

acre, at a less cost per bushel, and that a more provident mode of harvesting and feeding will give a larger amount of beef and pork from an acre, at a less cost per pound.

13*

THE MANUFACTURING INTEREST IN ITS RELATION TO AGRICULTURE.

NOTHING Would contribute more, and perhaps nothing so much, to the growth and prosperity of the West and South as the extension and increase of the manufacturing interest. The man who converts raw materials into articles of utility, convenience, or luxury, is a creator of values, and is to that extent a useful and valuable citizen in every community. Like the farmer, he creates products that meet the wants and necessities of men, and his presence is not merely important to society, but indispensable to its progress. manufacturer undoubtedly ranks next in importance to the farmer, and their avocations are in many points strikingly analogous. It may indeed be said that the farmer, in a broad and important sense, is himself a manufacturer, for, like the latter, he is essentially a creator of values.

The

There is, therefore, between these two departments of industry a close and intimate connection,—a relationship of mutual dependence and reciprocal benefits. There is probably no country on the globe and no condition of society in which the presence of the man