Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1867-11-01
farm. @arlen 4 goaaehol /
WILL TT PAY? I?

nay we'll And, at all eNahts' you t"Htlot
have good farming without the use OF large
working capital, or Of liberal credit, and i Is
quite certain that, if good farming viii not
pay, poor farming viii not. Aud rs aggicul
ture is the main business of the nation, Farm
ing will pay in the long ran, ii anything pays
This question, so often asked, and so sci
dom answered, - Does farming pay IS "a
very absurd one, Ofeourse farming pays
Farmers do get living, and it is rare that
one of them fails. / have three neighbois.
OHe came from the eastern part OF the state
when the country was new. He took up leo
acres Of land cleared it, fenced it, lived pro
baby, at first in a log house, worked hard,
but enjoyed himself He is eapitai farmer
up early in the morning. attic Dis to lis siack.
always has his crops sowa ii good seasen.
treats his land literally, aud gets arl.e re-
turns. He commenced with Eaie. l.as brought
up a large family, given them tirsi eiass
education, aud he is pro4ably .o-tas e5rlh
S25.000 to $50, coo. True, it las taken aim
80 years TO accumulate this alnouut Oh proper
ty and nearly all OF it has been derived from
the advance ofreal estate. StiA he has bada
good living, has enjoyed life, is an intelligent,
public spirited, energetic, and generous mind
ed gentleman, and enjoys the respects Of ali
his neighbors. ! am sure such farming pays
l have another neighbor who has farm Of
equally good hand. He is well educated
man, and seems to work hard, but he is al
ways behind with his work lie occasionally
gets good crop, but the generalyieldis bard
Iy sufficient to pay even for The htic labor
bestowed in preparing the land. lie IS in
debt, and seems TO depend more ga chopping
and selling wood to meet his payments than
on raising crops. His fences are ont ofrepair,
aud the land is full Of weeds. Still he gets a
living for himself and a large family, and, /
suppose, even in this case, we must conclude
that . farming pays" have ano-her neigh
Dor, whose land is low, but would be very pro-
ductive If attention was paid to surface drain
age. The same creek runs through the south
end of my farm. It is checked up with old
logs, branches, and fallen trees. The water
sets back in the spring, and foods his land.
But he makes no effort TO clean utthe creek.
l offered to do it for him, if be would give me
the wood, but no. he intended to do !; him
self presume he has been intending to do
it for years. a good portion Of his land does
not produce enough to pay the. taxes, and tie
dryer portions are not half worked, and yield
the most meagre returns. passed his house
this morning. lie was cutting some coarse
hay on the low land. His oats were harvest
ed, but nearly half of them were still lying On
the ground among the clods, and his wife was
lhrashing the other half in the barn with a
fail. Now this is rather poor farming. but
as the family gets living, 1 suppose It
"pays."
But do.e mach does it pay Does he make
as much as he would if his son and himself
worked as hard for some other farmers as they
do for themselves, to say nothing ofthe wife
I do not believe they make half as mach and
certainly their land is not improving, though
they probably persuade themselves tbat, ow-
ing to the improvements Of others it is IN
creasing in value.
Now. I have no doubt that an intelligent,
enterprising man, with the necessary capital,
could take this farm, and increase its pro
ductiveness fourfold. But such q man cannot
live in the style Of its present occupant, and
his wife would not want TO thrash in the barn.
And so the real question Is whether farming
viii afford sufficient profits to enable an
educated man to live in a style suited to his
necessities I think IL r8, but there are
those who contend that It viii not.
Can an educated man get a suitable living
By making boots Can he make much more
than the illiterate man who sits on the ad
joining bench? Can an educated farmer dig
more potatoes in a day than a good staIgayt
Irishman? Can he chop more wood than q
French Canadian, or plow better than
Seotchman? Can General Grant fight in the
ranks any better than Patrick O'Flannagan ?
The educated shoemaker, as soon as he had
learned the trade would have others helping
him, and by and by, if made of the right sind
Of stuff, he would be the proprietor Of a large
boot and shoe factory, and call to his aid all
the contriyances for saving labor that modern
science and invention can afford.
81 This is all very well. 1 see the point.
But you cannot make money by farming, u1-
less you work yourself" Very true. never
supposed you could Neither can the educa-
ted shoemaker. He probably works harder
than any man in the establishment, although
he does not wax his own strings, or hammer
out the lapis. He knows how to do all these
things. And so must farmer be acquainted
with all the details Of his business, and must
give them his undivided attention. But must
he necessarily do his ownplowing, dig his own
bitches, and husk his own corn? Work be
must, and so must a manufacturer and a pro-
fessiona man. But what work shall he do {?
If he has men husking corn by the bushel, he
should see that they husk clean, and tie uptbe
stalks WE'LL and make the bundles into stocks
that viii shed rain, and not blow down in the
first wind. He must see that he is not cheat
ed in measuring the corn, and that it IS
properly sorted. lie can make more by at
tending to such things than by husking him
self. And SO it is in nearly all the operations
of the farm. Especially must he see to his
stock. He will find ten men that can dig po-
tatoes, husk corn, hoe, plow, cultivate and
even build a stack, and dig underdrains, TO one
that can be entrusted to feed pigs or take care
Of the cows. To neglect to feed properly
TO starve this week and surfeit the next, will
cost you half the feed.
But l am wearying you. am satisfied, how