Plymouth advertiser. [volume] (Plymouth, Ohio) 1853-1988, 1854-04-08
agricultural.
ntry Farmers and City Mechanics

Ma. EDIroR i sm one of that great
multitude Of fsrmers' boys, who. early
imbibing the notion iha, farming is less
profitable than most other kinds of 5usi>
meas. learn trade, and finally find them
selves city mechanics. A grand good
position 70 look back from, and which
have long wished some one Of our class.
more compeien, than myself, would i'm
prove for the benefit Of our successors I;
for II seems that farmers boys, and girls
too, Sresiill looking to the shops and stores
Of the city, as a refuge from the poverty
Of the farm.
On looking back from this standpoint
upon my past experience and observation,
the first conviction which occurs TO my
mind is, that farming is more. and other
business is less profitable than they seem
to be. | bave lately received letter from
q brother who not 4" taking to trade " now
owns a small farm. Abiding tony old
notions Of the unproftableness of farming.
and TO the high prices Inov pay in the
city for all kinds ,f provisions, he says,
in the familiar style of family correspon-
dence:
"On looking at the amount and variety
of articles consumed and worn out by
farmers the interest most Of Us pay when
we first begain in the world our carriages
and harnesses, our clothing, food. &c,
for ourselves and little ones. / think there
must be profit somewhere in farming,
greater than you used to allow. Look
into our buttery, our clothes.press, our
cellar, our barn. and pig pen-nothing
to brag of, as you know,-but yet enough
if all put into bill to make quite a sum.
If farmers were to give their farms
credit for rent and every thing you pay
money for, which their farms produce,
they would need something of an income
to foot the yearly bill--and would find
out, I believe, that farming i, not quite
such poor and improbable business as
some of US think it to be" /"
Farmers handle but little money, and
hence are apt to look Upon the week ly
wages Of mechanics a, large, which will
barely supply family with the necessa.
ries Of life. recoiect my feelings, when
boy. on hearing of mechanic who
received ten dollars week in the city.
lcould hardly imagine what one man could
do with so much money: or, when it was
possible for others 10 put themselves in
the way of getting such wages. anybody
should be willing to stay and "gee baw"
oxen on a farm at so cents a dav Well.
/ left the farm, and have reached the goal
of my boyish ambition. am in Boston
with 10 dollars week!
But how much better off am I, after all,
than most Of my schoolmates are, who
were compelled TO work for II and Is
dollars per month, whole I was receiving
soto 40! Little if any and why! Be.
cause "circun stances alter cases" Be-
fore | kept house had 10 to Is dollars
per month to pay for board, washing,
mending, and other unavoidable iuciden-
ta's "a very important item that farmer.
boys seem never to take into account
and then, when sick, my watchers,
nurses. doctors, apothecary's, boarding
house keepers and washerwoman's bills
were all made put on the ten dolat.a-week
system, and took off the dollars almost a,
fast as my pulse beat in a high fever
While the rmer-boy who works by the
month is boarded. washed and mended
I" in the bargain" and, if sick, is taken
care of at the lowest figure, OF Carried
home 10 be nursed by his mother and sis
ters.
AClTY MECHANIC.
Rosfon March e 1874