Produced by Barbara Kosker, Bryan Ness and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) WHAT I KNOW OF FARMING: A SERIES OF BRIEF AND PLAIN EXPOSITIONS OF PRACTICAL AGRICULTURE AS AN ART BASED UPON SCIENCE: BY HORACE GREELEY. "I _know_ That where the spade is deepest driven, The best fruits grow." JOHN G. WHITTIER. NEW-YORK: PUBLISHED BY THE TRIBUNE ASSOCIATION. 1871. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by HORACE GREELEY, at the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. TO THE MAN OF OUR AGE, WHO SHALL MAKE THE FIRST PLOW PROPELLED BY STEAM, OR OTHER MECHANICAL POWER, WHEREBY NOT LESS THAN TEN ACRES PER DAY SHALL BE THOROUGHLY PULVERIZED TO A DEPTH OF TWO FEET, AT A COST OF NOT MORE THAN TWO DOLLARS PER ACRE, THIS WORK IS ADMIRINGLY DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR. CONTENTS BY CHAPTERS. PAGE I. Will Farming Pay? 13 II. Good and Bad Husbandry 18 III. Where to Farm 23 IV. Preparing to Farm 29 V. Buying a Farm 34 VI. Laying off a Farm; Pasturing 39 VII. Trees; Woodlands; Forests 44 VIII. Growing Timber; Tree-Planting. 49 IX. Planting and Growing Trees 56 X. Draining; My Own 62 XI. Draining Generally 69 XII. Irrigation; Means and Ends 74 XIII. Possibilities of Irrigation 79 XIV. Plowing, Deep or Shallow 85 XV. Plowing, Good and Bad 91 XVI. Thorough Tillage 96 XVII. Commercial Fertilizers--Gypsum. 102 XVIII. Alkalis--Salt, Ashes, Lime. 107 XIX. Soils and Fertilizers 112 XX. Bones, Phosphates, Guano 118 XXI. Muck--How to Utilize It 124 XXII. Insects; Birds 129 XXIII. About Tree-Planting 134 XXIV. Fruit-Trees--The Apple 139 XXV. More about Apple-Trees 145 XXVI. Hay and Hay-Making 150 XXVII. Peaches, Pears, Cherries, Grapes 156 XXVIII. Grain-Growing--East and West 162 XXIX. Esculent Roots--Potatoes 170 XXX. Roots--Turnips, Beets, Carrots 178 XXXI. The Farmers' Calling 183