Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1867-12-20
i Che Gtanntom Din0itator.
gADVERTISING RATES.
FOR IESS rHAN-TIiRE Ea AtIAT X y
FARM AND FIRESIDE.

hos u FARM AND FIRESIDE.
The PRoFITABLE VERSUS THE UNPRoFIrA-
BILE Although the season for active opera
tons in the farm and garden has ceased, and
our agriculturists may now enjoy a few
months Of repose, still, it is, the part Of pru-
dence to improve these days of leisure by
planning and making arrangements for the
coming spring especially is this necessary
4 now, when each day but more fully develops
the utter impossbility of cultivating, with
our present class Of labor, to any profit.
those crops which have heretofore constitu-
ted our great staples. ,- .yrr
We have often urged q change in the
crops of our state, if our people would ever
hope to regain their former wealth, nay, if
they would even secure subsistence, and
now as they enter upon the work of the new
year we earnestly solicit them to consider
well before risking their time and labor on
tobacco, corn and cotton, to be grown on
impoverished lands, with only such labor as
the freedman chooses to give, when not oc-
cupied with the (to his nlind) more impor-
tant business Of politics, voting and gala
days. T9l-ag-t 1Hs Z. e''-.'
Have corn, wheat and tobacco paid You
this year ?, Are you to-day as able to buy
| fertilizers as you were twelve months ago
Is there promise that the freedmen will 10
Dor as constantly or as well another year as
they have this (poorly as that has been y
Now if these questions cannot be answered
| in the affirmative. to what purpose do you
| propose to continue this course :? Surely
there is an easier and simpler method of ar
irving at ankruptcy doing nothing.
We are not croakers, we believe and feel
assured that there is a glorious future open
to the agricultural people of Virginia, but
that successful future can never be reached
| by the old trodden paths of the quondam
times of slavery We must learn the lesson
of the war, viz: ''that old things have
passed away and all things are become new
and we must accommodate ourselves to the
times and seasons, for they will not accom-
modate themselves to US. -f.rZ5
But to what crops can our people look
with any better prospect of success p? We an
swer, to those that give the greatest yield
from the smallest amount of land If we
cannot secure labor to work plantation, We
can ourselves. work few acres, and five
acres in Strawberries, onions, hops, pears,
apples, cranberries, or grapes will give far
more net profit than fifty acres in wheat or
corn. We might fill our pages with statis-
ties to prove this, but will content ourselves
with few. ...., .r st,,sa
r Three thousand quarts of Strawberries per
| acre is below the average yield and yet at
ten cents per quart, little over halfthe av-
erage price, the gross yield is three hundred
dollars per acre, the expense of culture and
marketing is not over one third Of this
amount, leaving net profit of two hundred
dollars per acre. So with hops; in 1865
! the average yield in the United States was
1000 pounds per acre, the average price
! forty cents per pound, but put the price at
thirty cents and we have a gross yield of
| $500, per acre, the cost of culture as with
strawberries will not exceed $500 per acre,
giving the same net profit. So with other
small fruits and vegetables Two hundred
dollars per acre may be safely calculated up
on from any of them if properly cultivated.
=. 1t is to these that we must turn for our
future subsistence and profits. 1t is these
that have given wealth and influence to the
Northern and Eastern States, and it is the
wine of California and Missouri that will
soon add moreto the revenue of these states
than has the gold of the one or the wheat of
the other in years gone by.
The old objection of an overstocked mar
ket has been so constantly disproved by the
ever increasing demand for and price of
vegetables, fruits and wine that we need not
stop now to consider it. Fifteen years ago
pears could be bougtt for two dollars per
bushcl in New York at present, when
there are thousand times as many offered
for sale, they readily command eight or ten
dollars; so with strawberries, peaches, ap-
pies, grapes and wine. e % ei-a- -
Let US all then turn our attention to some
of these crops and we will soon have not on
ly ease but opulenoe, where all is now pow
erty and restitution In ensuing numbers
we will treat of the culture of some of these
crops, in order that any Of our readers who
feel disposed to test their profit may be able
to do 50 safely and successfully. -So'aAera
: Planter.