The Wyandot pioneer. (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1853-1868, 1853-12-01
Will Farming Pay!

retary of the Massachusetts, Board of a G
riculture, which seems to come to tn,
point on this question. He took occasion
to say;
! have often heard it said that farming
does not pay, that it pays less than an,
other pursuit. Now | believe that it i
this very idea, unqualified, naked as it is
that makes farming anguish, and tina
causes SO many of the young and intelli
gent men of the country to leave it; ant
have sometimes had an inexpressible de
sire to say word or two, not in denial
but rather in qualification Of this state
ment, SO prevalent even omang farmer:
themselves.
Why. sir, If farming does not pay
where, in the name of common sense, lei
me ask, have the farmers here to-day pro.
cured so many of the evidences of com
fort and happiness by which they are sur
rounded? Have they run in debt fol
them? Are their farms all covered with
mortgages? Have they not the means o.
meeting from day to day and from year to
year all the wants Of an easy and honor
able livclihood?C
=, No, sir, | venture to say their farms are
no more covered with mortgages than
they are with weeds and bushes. Here
and there, it is true, is an instance of a
farmer deeply involved, owing to circum-
stances or misfortunes which no human
foresight could have prevented but in
what business of life is not this the case?
The boy who visits the metropolis and gaz
esat gorgeous and splendid palaces which
line the streets, the beautiful carriages
rolling in luxury, and all the magnificent
decorations of wealth, is apt to stand
amazed, some say gaping with astonish-
ment. Fancy filings around it bewitch-
ing drapery, and he cannot see how such
things can be without the solid, substan-
tial foundation of wealth at the bottom OF
it all. He cannot see how the artificial
forms of society acquire the display oi
wealth, without the needful wealth itself.
He cannot 60 into the eounting-room and
see the weight of embarrassment press
ing down upon many an aching heart
He cannot see and know the number of
those who wear a borrowed crown.
Now, sir, ask every farmer here if
the farms in his neighborhood are not less
mortgaged than they were twenty years
ago? If the comforts and the luxuries
OF life are not more abundant, if the
buildings are not, on the whole, much i'm
proved, If the schools and school houses
are notbetter, if land is not higher and
produce higher, if the whole aspect of the
country is not changed for the better? I
know the answer must be yes, in some
parts of the State and I doubt not it is so
here. Now ask again how these things
are brought about if there is no profit in
farming? do not mean to say that there
are not occupations that sometimes pay
better at the time, but believe it to be
true, that, in the long run, all things con-
sidered, farming will compare favorably
with other occupations. 1t must be re-
membered in this connection, that if it
does not pay SO well as mercantile pur-
suits sometimes do, farmers do not take
such covrse as merchants do to make it
pay.-As soon as the merchant gets a lit
tie surplus he puts it right into his bust
ness to increase and enlarge the source of
his income, while it is too often the case
that farmers prefer to invest an extra fifty
or hundred dollars in some railroad stock
or some other manner to investing in real
and permanent improvements, by which
they would eventually realize a sure and
safe per cent. interest. They seem to for
get that every acre of reclaimed or i'm
proved land forms a sort of reserved or
sinking fund which will pay not only old
debts but the cost of its own improve
ment. They should also leave out of the
question such men engaged in agriculture
as show by their mode of farming that
they would fail at any thing else. do
not believe the experiment has been fully
and fairly tried yet, and l long to see it
carried through so as to show the result
on this very point.
But apart from the consideration of
dollars and cents there are other and
higher considerations which should have
an important influence in the decision of
the question whether farming will pay.
It'll natural for us all to get interested
in the plans of improvement which we
have ourselves originated and perfected
If we build house Or clear a field, or
drain ameadow or reclaim swamp, if we
plant an orchard or a nursery, or raise a
beautiful animal, we find something which
insensibly touches the heart and gives us
satisfaction which no language can de-
scribe; l may also say which Nd money
can buy or pay for ifit would, No mat
ter whether these local attachments are
founded in the deceptions of the heart or
<f f1axr L