Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1869-07-22

lively scarce, while In all new countries
there is too much, with too little popu-
lation. There is an over-supply Of land
and an under-supply of labor. Here we
have abuunance of help, because the
high returns ofagriculture give employ
ment to all willing to work.
In any location where land can be
made to produce the interest of SlOO0per
acre. it would seem safe to purchase it at
$500. Though many acres around Bur-
iiDgton have produced and are still pro-
ducing such returns, yet all are not
Some are very far exceeding. IL, while
others are falling below according to the
crops cultivated and the skill aud in
dustry applied. 1t is to be observed, in
this connection, that the best returns
are realized by perseverance, in contin-
uing at the business for a term of years,
until fruits, if fruit culture he adapted,
have come into full bearing. A trial of
a single year on even an old farm is gen.
erally'one of mere preparation fer the
second. The first mag pay profit, but
not often.
Long experience in 3 thousand places
has shown that an acre OF land can be
made TO pay the interest Oh very large
sum. Mr.. Leonard, of Monmouth, OBJ
tanned from asparagus the interest on
$1,000, and from grapes the interest Of
$1,000 per acre. Both these may be re-
garded a. standard crops, not liable to
casualty, especially asparagus. In our
neighborhood some remarkable results
have been secured from standard fruit
crops There is an acre of blackberries
on the farm of Mr.. Dulty, which has
produced the interest ofover SS. 500 gross
no doubt of $1,000 net. The owner of
a three-acre field of purple cane rasp-
berries told me that his sales in one sea-
son produced him the interest of SIS, 900
gross. Large fields of even perishable
straw berries have been made to pay the
net interest of $500 per acre. There is
a field of two and half acres of black
berries near me containing twenty-six
hundred plants, which last year pro-
ced the interest of very near $50, 900 net.
There can be no mistake about this last
C rop But it was altogether exception
al, n OF likely ever to be repeated, as
berries were then high, and while other
growers had few or none, this field bore
abundtantly. aeatss zz5a - III p
Thus the capacity of an acre well cul-s
tivated in certain crops has been ascer
tai ned with tolerable deffniteness. But
it's money capacity is governed by it's
location. 1t would be utter folly to pro-
duce any ofthese crops where no market
for them exists. Land producing such
returns is cheap at $500 and it is for this
reason that some New Jersey farms are
better bargains at that figure than
Southern farms at only tenth of it.
The value of land is to he measured by
its productiveness, not by its price. All
the paying returns above recited were
obtained by good ordinary cultivation,
not by forcing or extrayagant outlay
Had these been resorted to, the return
would have undoubtedly exceeded the
extra cost. But the owners planted,
and waited until their plant
ings came into bearing. Such waiting
is sometimes inconvenient TO men of
moderate means; but men wait longer
which are much less valuable.
Thus grapes, asparagus, and the cane
producing berries are seen to yield q
larger interes fer money invested in
them, even on high pricedland, than
can possibly be realized from lew priced
land where no such markets as ours are
within reach. The land at $500 per acre
in such a market is cheaper than that
at ten dollars without the market. The
one acre pays interest on the cost of ten
acres, while the other pays interest only
on its own cost. But time and patience
are required TO realize such returns. It
is he who endures to the end that sue
ceeds not he who plants and immedi-
ately quits. fEfbE G3
1t has been said the laborer, with no
capital but his hands, saves more money
than the owner of n hundred
acres. 1t is no doubt true in many cases.
Here the laborers have frequently be-
come owners of farms on which they
had been hired. But this change of poi
sition was because of the incapacity of
the owner and the ability of the laborer.
The owner cultivated crops which paid
no profit, but the laborer cultivated those
only which did. Yet under both owners,
it was the same land, but the manage
ment was different. The secret of sue
cess would seem to lie in abandoning
the cultivation of crops that do not pay,
and introducing those that do. European
capitalists are letting go their three per
cents andbuying up our skies. This is
because the latter pay double what they
now receive. So sheuld it be with the
farmer. If he has tested the capacity of
his acres with giving crops and discov-
cred that they do not pay let him change
,ff for better ones. Hearth and Home. |