Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1867-03-21
belmont C6roniC(e
rySshhhe SeVYoft .1fibane' o. 18th in.t.l

THO folloVi1g note is like so many !
others which! have reached us chat we ,
feel justified in treating its topic as of
quite general interest:
TO The tclisor ~ NE Tyib,t,,e ,4 q A q
SIN: Your editorials have. rom time to time,
drawn my attention to farming what should /
tss,s s sSaSi1y hsSia a via ,ca cash satai
OF s25gl dol thht regard2 Does not mark et and
ducemcnts u thaii M III the Westg What do You You con- on
slider the figures? How much should he invest |
II He sss M iSpefiencc in the business. h now
bookkeeper, living ON his pay but with no pros |
poets. lie believes that many will be interested |
II your reply.- 81. ..- b., Il.
Ans,der.LA' man who has so5, 900 is
too well off to need any advice from us.
We may say generally that any man or
woman OF average sense who is worth
that amount can buy good farm of 100
70 20n acres almost anywhere for 81, 900
to Si5,000, stock it amply, buy the needed
tools and seeds, hire good farmer as fore
man, and 90 to work, with moral cer
tainty OF doing well from the outset, and
better and better year by year thereafter.
He must be u very poor stick who can't
make hisfway anywhere with start of
But there Is a very large class now
hanging on in cities and villages who
could cell out SO as to take from S2 boo to
5000 each into the country. What can
a young or middle-aged man do at lnrm-
ing on such capital?
Letshs suppose u man TO have $500
and "a family of four To ak persons;
where shall ne choose rural home? and
what shall lie do onsib2 n q rF
The proper answer depends on his
tastes and prepossessiOns. If these tend
togardening and fruit-growing heahould
settle within days ride of this or some
other great city, and very near port or
landing whence steamboat runs daily
to and from our markets. "A location on
or near a railroad will do /; hut water
transportation is decidedly Preferable
Long Island, New Jersey Especially its
southern half), Delaware, Maryland and
even Lower Virginia, afford excellent
locations. There is very fair wooded or
worn-out land to be bought for $25 per
acre or less; but land that sells for 5000
per acre is often decidedly cheaper. And,
whatever your capital may be, do MT
bury more than half of it in the earth.
Better,begin on five acres, plow it deeply,
fertilizc it bountifully, and cultivate it
thoroughly, than to run in debt, or farm
land that you are unable TO make as rich
as need be. DO MT be afraid that the
land will all be gone IL yOu do not secure
1t at once; money will always buy land,
and will buy most land for less than its
actual cost. Unless YOU have much
money, buy no more land than you in
tend to put to immediate use, unless il
lie putch of woodland for timber and
fuel.
Your inexperiencc will OF course be
drawback. You viii be able to effect
more5y eight hOurs' work per day in
your third year of farming than by
twelve hours per day in your first year
Yet your freedom from self-conceit and
presumption will half atone for your
iEnorance. You havenot half so much
to unlearn as a lifelong farmer who
fancies that nobody can farm better than
his grandfather did. You will read the
proceedings OF the Farmers Club and an
Agricultural weekly or monthly with
eager interest, will follow their surrcs-
tions, and sometimes be mislcd bythem:
but, In the average, they viii benefit YOU
and you willprofitby every blunder you
make. By the fourth year, you will be
able to crticise and discriminate, so that
your teachers may make blunders with
out Inducing you to follow them. f..
Yonr chief danger is impatience. If
you, or your wife would not get disgust
ed with fhrmig the first year, IL Is quite
unlikely that you ever WILL Begin with
adistinct understanding that YOU will
not make money at irst--that you will
almost certainly be poorer at the close of
your flrst years farming than when you
began IL. Your land Will be in poor con
dition; you will have to do two days
work for futurity to every one that tells
directly on the production of this years
crop. You viii suffer by drouth and
Hood, heat aud frost, hail and insects;
and Will be lod to conclude that farming
isa hard bueiness, and its rewards very
mcager and uncertain. But all these
are passing clouds, to dispel which you
have but TO persevere.
Resolve to grow what you need and
10 consume your own products 80 far as
may be. We don't object TO giving u
blthel OF good potatoes or n barrel of
turnips lor pound OF middling tea; but
half q dozen such exchanges per annum
are decidedly preferable to hundred
Be sure To average at least five days per
week on your own homestead. There
ARE farmers who do not mean to be shift
less, and who can do fair days work
when they setabout 1t, yet who have 80
much business" that takes them or
this way and that, that they do not aver
age three square days work per week. -
Those farmers are heading straight to-
ward the poor-honse. Can you wonder