We understand very well that every region must fashion its _system_ of
agriculture upon the nature of its soil, its climate, etc. The
_principles_ of agriculture may be alike in every zone, but the
_processes_ depend upon circumstances. It would be folly for a new
country, without commerce, to imitate an old country with an active
commerce; it would be folly, where land is cheap, abundant, and
naturally fertile, to adopt the habits of those who are stinted in
lands, who have a redundant population, and who find a market for even
the weeds which are indigenous to the soil. The husbandry of Holland
is suited to a wet soil, and of England to a humid atmosphere and a
very even annual temperature. But our soil is subject to extreme wet
in spring and dryness in summer, to severe cold and intense heat. A
farm whose bottom-lands are reinvigorated by yearly inundations, may
thrive under an exacting husbandry that would exhaust an upland farm
in a few years. Modes of agriculture must be suited to circumstances.
Nevertheless, the experiments and discoveries and practices of every
land are worth our careful attention. We do not import _clothes_—but
we do _cloth_, to be _made up_ to suit our own habits and wants.
The two extremes of husbandry are, the _adoption_ of every novelty and
every experiment indiscriminately, and the _rejection_ of every new
thing and every improvement, as indiscriminately. Wisdom consists in
“proving all things and holding fast that which is _good_.” We do not
advocate large outlays for expensive machines—for fancy cattle, for
every new thing that turns up. But when, after full trial, it is
ascertained what are the best farm horses, the best breed of cattle,
the best milch cows, the most profitable breed of hogs and sheep, and
the most skillful routine of cultivation, we think our farmers ought
to profit by the knowledge. It is never a good economy to have poor
things when you can just as well have the best. This, then, is