The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1867-08-03
Does Farming Pay?

labor, and as perfect hindrance TO obtain
ing good acquaintance with all the politel
forms OF good society. Nor is this ALL
They seem to have a commercial spirit about
them, and utter with the utmost assurance
the assertion that Charming does not nay.
We are sorry to say that there are many
disconnected farmers, and farmers sons, who
echo the same sentiments, who endeavor to
sell THAR ialm-thcir little al-and then
haste to some village, to engage in keeping
store, or something else they fancy easy
Or else, if not this the old father and iami.
ly stay at home, pinch themselves by every
variety of selrdenial to obtain the where
withal to put their son through n college
either educational or business so that he
| can graduate ready to enter some gcntccl
profession, as lawyer, doctor, or minister,
when the ranks are already full.
| Undoubtedly success in farming requires
tie exercise Of as much and in some cases
more, ability than any other except certain
| literary occupation. Evidently success re.
quires the application OF the principles Of
knowledge; that knowledge can come only
| through study, and that study must have
application and books and papers.
Some OF the best farmers, perhaps ma.
| iority, have attained their success by taking
Il iudicous assortment of agricultural pa.
pcrs and, by reading them carefully, re.
memberine the best items by effort, and
following by practical experiment, have
reached the winning point
We propose to quote a few instances,
showing that farming can be made as sue.
cessful as any pursuit; and Of all choices o.!
occupation it is assuredly the most pleasant
and independent.
Perhaps one of the most curious in
stances of successful Western farming is
the case related by A. d. Richardson, in
the well known letters to the Tribune, ell.
titled ''On the Border'a sketch of Kan.
sas.
"Judge l.. d. Bailey, president of The
State Agricultural Society, has =, 400 acres,
fifteen miles south west of Lawrence, In
SG4 he sold his corn i'll the ear at home for
; 30 per bushel. On the 1st Of August he
bought 100 acres of wild prairie for $780,
He cut and raked the grass by machinery,
and could gather only about half of it, as
the rest was not burned over the previous
winter, and was so matted with dead hay
that the machine could not work. After
the hay was cut and cured, his neighbors
stacked it son shares" The Judges half
was $50 tons, which he sold on the ground
for l,04o. "Thus his first crop from the
wild prairie paid for the entire tract and
the cost of cutting and stacking the hay"
The Country Gentleman, of Albany, says,
in reference to this subject
"Amos Lawrence, OF Boston, kept q re.
cord during n long life of all his mercantile
acquaintance, and found ont that Of every
hundred who entered business ninety seven
failed of success. A similar record kept in
the city of New York showed n result bnt
little more favorable. Agriculture, while it
accumulaIions of wealth as trade, is not at
tended with the sudden dissipation ofestates
that trade often witnesses.
"a merchant may make q hundred thou
sand or more IN a year; the same business
reduces many who are rcpuied wealthy to
poverty. A thousand young men who en-
gage in the cultivation of the soil accumu.
late Il larger aggregate Of property than Il
thousand who enter trade.
'lt il thousand farmers are less educated.
they are, nevertheless, more successful as n
body. Then their business must be greatly
superior, thus TO outSlrip their smarter com
peers Either admission, therefore, proves
nothing against farming.
SIT may be laid down rs an impre"nalle
position that no industrious iarm-r who has
studied his occupation we'll, and who eNer-
ciael a medium share of Judgment, ercr jtHt
ed iH his business.
IF the farmer has fallen bchindhand. il
has been occaaioned by extravaganza in
some other quarter, or by mrddlnY, with
speculation, or by Office seeking, or some
neglect.
"Many instances are known where men
have begun life with little or nothing, and
who have accumulated, by farming excln-
sivcly, fifty to one hundred thousand dol
lars. and some even more.
"a young mar in Western New York,
with few hundred dollars to commence
l.yf 1,
700 acres of fertile land, from which he
saved annually an average of about five
thousand dollars.
"Men who have made twenty or thirty
thousand by farming may be counted by
thousRnIs; and never, i'll n single instance,
have any of them incurred any danger Of
becoming bankrupt
Mr.. A. c. Fulton, Of Davenport, Iowa,
states, in the Ilairie Farmer, that the gross
receipts from his farm of 81 acres, IN 1864.
amounted to Sl0,lll. The net profit, after
deductions, expenses, etc, was 1905. 20
acres were put in wheat and corn, the re-
mainder in onions, potatoes, and sorghum.
1t was the onion crop, undoubtedly, which
afforded such large profit.
We remember particularly an instance Of
unusual success IN the culture of onions.-
One gentleman, living nj MarbiehGna, Mass,
raised 1000 bushels of onions from ii acres
Of land, equalng 800 bushels per acre.
Three hundred to 400 bushels are very
common yield, and 800 to 800 are not un.
usual. They usually bring 81 per bushcl,
although they range sometimes a. low ms
50e. fkept until spring and sold, they
will realize All advance IF 80 to 100 per
cent, upon the last falls prices. l'heabove
crop was sold for ~ per barrel. Total for
the crop, 81, 900.
An editor travelling in the central part of
this State, in 1862, gives the following eX.
amplcs of success i'll ordinary farming:
Isaac N. Sexton, Of Ncnice, Cayuga Co.,
NY, occupied 100 acres, which he bought
seven years ago at $50 per acre, making the
farm cost Sc, 900. He paid $4,000 at the
time Of purchase; during the seven years he
has replaced poor fences with durable ones,
added farm buildings, and paid the remain
ing $1,000. The annual net profit, besides
supporting family comfortably, was over
$500; which, placed continually at interest,"
with o similar yearly addition, would amount
in life Of forty years TO 100000
"Fayette Van Lien, Of Scipio, same eoun
ty, who had s 700 five years ago, paid half
this amount, or $500, as the first payment
toward an eighty acre farm, costing So, 200;
the remaining $500 was applied to purchase
animals and implements. lie has paid
yearly average Of 500 for the 80 acres in
the ) years, and reduced the debt to 81,
| 500.