Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1868-03-18
other crops, and fine stock, &C., and live
on the products of our own farms.
JNO. Fl. DENT.
FLOYD County, Ga.
Is Farming Profitable.

The first question with us, all over the
country, ISIS farming profitable Not
can man get an honest, comfortable
living by it? Not will it contribute to
his health and daily enjoyment; promote
vigor of body and mind; give him days
of sweet peace and nights Of undisturbed
repose, and spread contentment all along
the paythway of life? But will it pay
And by this it is not meant whether it
will yield sure and steady income, and
that in proportion to the capital invested,
and the skill and industry with which it
is employed; but can man get rich by
it. And by this even it is not meant
whether man can lay by few hundreds
every year, and at the close of life be
worth thirty, forty, fifty thousand dollars
but can he "make his pile?" And even
that will not suffice, unless he can make
it in the course of four or five years.
No. In this sense farming is not protita-
BILE; and thank God it never will be.
For if it was, it would be robbed of its
true glory, and shorn of its heathfnl,
moral influence.
Tilling the soil, and the tending OF
Aocks and herds, were the earliest, as
they will be the latest, occupations of
man. They are adapted to his capacity,
contributing to his wants, and indispensa-
BILE to every existence of society. Such
occupations, with such results, and so
necessary to the we'll being of man, can
not be monopolized by the rich and pow
erful. They may as we'll seek to mo-
nopolize the rain of heaven, or the atmos-
phere We breathe.
True, there are men Of grea. wealth
who are engaged in agricultural pursuits.
Their capital, their talents, their physical
force and mental energies are all enlisted
in this noble calling. And it is we'll that
it is so. 1t is to this class of persons that
we are mostly indebted for the improve
ment in stock, in the science, art and sys-
tenn of agriculture-all of which are as
important to the humble as to the veal
thy farmer. These men, with their capi-
tai, might find any occupation profitable,
Sliu llltil luCOIIC
But is farming profitable for men Of
small means and limited resources 3
There are two answers to this question.
If the farmers returns are greater than
his outlays, including interest on the in
vcstmeut. then his employment is profta-
BILE; and if in the meantime he is imp.ov-
inr his land, (which every farmer is bound
to do.) then his actual profits are still
greater. But if by profit is meant the
sudden accumulation of a vast fortune,
by grand speculation in the products
of the soil, dashing operation in real
estate, or a government contract to sup
ply the army in Utah, then farming is not
profitable. And any man, young or old,
whose brain has been turned by such
practices, had better never dirty his fingers,
nor disgrace the soil, by bringing the two
into contact. But to every able. bodied,
Industrious, honest, frugal and thorough
tiller of the soil, farming is profitable
always was and always will be. Profta.
ble in every sense Of the term. In the
language of another, "Of what conse.
quence is it whether mans income be
$500 or $5,00Oa year, if he can so regu-
late his expenditures that the smaller sum
may meet all his reasonable wants =?
Other occupations may yield greater
profits, but they are attended with greater
hazards; and much greater proportion
of farmers reaching the age Of fifty will
be found better off than in any other vo-
cation"