Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1869-03-10
Calculation in Farming.

Winter is the time when many reckoning
are made. The farmer can now tell whether
hc made or lost money on this or that crop
whether the time and manure he put on
field Of corn has come back whether he die
well enough on hops to try it another year
whether his tobacco raising was, on the whole
sound farming and how much more he might
have made IL instead Of corn lac had put hi.
ten acre jenkins lot into wheat, and rice rersa
The relative value of large and small farm,
is Of late much discussed
The great advance 10 agricultural invention.
has introduced % new consideration into cal
culations The time was when three plows
three hoes two axes, yoke, a stoneboat, d
Sled and sart, two scythcs, two fails, two
shoyeIs, dung fork, three rakes and two
piichlorks. the whole not costing over s7j,
would be considered a fair outfit for hundred
acre farm. Now the best frners are those
who own and use the most machines An
eighty acre tract Is not well appointed as
things are now, that has not from $500 to
$1,000 worth Of agricultural implements.
\ farmer on forty acres cannot afford to have
so much capital invested 10 tools Hence it
may bc sound policy in small farmer to add
twenty or thirty acres to his tract at once,
and mortgage it for the purpose of stocking
itwith the best implements; but twenty years
ago such advice would have sent a mans
place under the sherif's hammer IN less than
two years
Another element must be carefully taken
into accountable constant Improvement in
mean. of getting from place 10 place. The
farmer should know the tariff of frcights on
the nearest railroad as well as he knows his
COWS. If be can put barrel OF potatoes in
70 % great city, or any market town for less
than half dollar. IL may pay for him to
raise potatoes exclusively If not, hay may
be his best crop, or butter, or oats, or wheat.
February is a good time to look about in
to take ones bearings aud calculate the nor
things or the southings In many counties
the question is constantly mootcd whether in
the long run, beef or butter pays best Asa
rule one can think Of more forehandcd far.
mers who sell many fat cattle than he can Of
rich butter makers. Yet on the other hand
the beef farmer will sometimes buy for $40
and sell for $50 getting only SO for three
tons Of hay. This loss seldom or never hap
pens 10 the butter-makor
1t is well for the farmer to settle down ON
some fixed policy, which he will not abandon
or materially change except for good and
substantial reasons. Suppose, for instance,
his principal revenue has been from wool.
But now q railroad station is five miles nearer
than it was last year. This circumstance
may upset all the calculations of a former
system. II may now be profitable for him to
enter upon line of culture that heretofore
was not to be thought Of. Cabbages may
now be grown to profit on thousands of acres
that were wholly unsuted to that crop ten
years ago There is no rule that applies lust
alike to every place; and what we urge is
that now, with all the experience Of 1865
fresh in his mind, the farmer, while he walks
beside his oxen, or grinds his axes, or rides
on bag, or watches the fame curling over
the lorestck should chow the cud Of reHec.
ton, aud set figures on slate till he comes
TO sound conclusion ms to what is best for
him. In the old country there is a class of
men who are invited to visit farms, and after
noting the soil, ncarness Of manure, and rail-
roads, the distance and character OF markets.
they give advice as to the best general policy
to be pursued We have had two or three
such men in this country, who are sometimes
paid two or three hundred dollars to visit
farm and give a carefully considered opinion
Ii the land owner lacks confidence in his own
judgment, he would do well to employ an
agricultural expert But no adviser is so
good as ones self, if he will but bring intel
ligcnce and thought enough to our affairs
The difference between the rich and the poor,
the man who wants to borrow and he who is
prepared to lend, is often here rather than in
irugality, or industry, or general inteli-
gencc.
1t takes just as good brains to make sue
ccsslul farmer as it does to make successful
importer, Or manufacturer, or publisher The
system by which your father grew rich may,
if followed up, make all his sons poor. On
the other hand, one may now 90 to a New
England farm where thirty years ago man
would not have seen twenty dollar bill from
January to December if he raised potatoes
and poultry, and derive handsome income
from these two products