Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1870-08-10
Agricultural.
This Department s conducted by
Hon. J. W. Colburn and Hon. John Gregory.
Farming rs n Business.

Henry Ward Becchcr writes to the Chris.
fiqH Union on this subject, and his suggcs-
tons arc worthy of the consideration of
farmers
Farming is not only a regular business, to
be understood according to commercial prin-
ciplos. but it is a complex business, and for its
best success requires the highest business Ia
lcnts. The farmer is both a manufacturer
and merchant. In either capacity he re-
quircs the method knowledge, exact calcula.
ton, economy aud shrewdness which make a
successful man. In determining what crops
or stock bis farm shall bear the farmer is a
merchant. He must know the market and
raise that which will sell at a profit Hay
ing ascertaincd what the market needs aud
will pay for the farmer becomes a manulac-
turer, and sets about iashioning the goods
which are TO be sold The cloth manufactu.
rer uses his spindes and looms to make mar.
ketable commodities, the chemist uses his lab
oratory, and the farmer uses his soil. II is
his workshop and his laboratory for manuiac-
turing goods for market
The first step in good farming must be
taken in the direction of knowledge and skill,
and the second in the direction Of economy.
To know the nature Of soils, and how best to
handle them, the knowledge of the require.
ments of various crops, and how to meet
them, the knowledge Of the use Of machin-
cry, that is, Of labor force and labor implc-
ments, including men, horses, oxen, harnesses,
wagons, plows, etc, is indispensable TO good
farming, but economy is hardly second to
knowledge A chemist who sells, for 10
cents, pound of articles which cost him II
cents to manufacture the manufacturer who
gets 90 cents for carpets which cost him 50
at the loom, will soon shut up shop. The
farmer must get his goods to market at
cost to himself much below the market
price, or he will soon enjoy the luxuries
and amenities Of the Poor House. 1t is at
this point that fancy farming fails. 1t is not
difficult to raise prodigous crops if one man.
ure his land with dollars But to produce
large haryests cheaply, and at the same time
to keep the soil in good heart, requires no
mean order of business talent.
a man that is not smart enough to run a
store, is not smart enough to run a farm
Farmers are not to be made out Of what is
left after lawyers doctors, ministers aud mer.
chants are sorted and picked out And if a
man fails on good farm it is not likely that
he will succeed in store, for it requires
more talent to be a thriving farmer than to
be an average merchant The one cause Of
greatest failure is the disproportion between
mans farm and his capital. A farmers cap
ital is his skilled labor and his money
If he has little cash. he must have no more
land than he can thoroughly well manage
by his own personal labor. Every acre
beyond that is an incumbrance. One acre
well worked is more profitable than 30 acres
skinned over. 1t is this greed of land by
farmers that have not capital enough to work
II, that keeps so many poor
Small farms are better than large ones sim
ply because they are better suited to the aver
age capital Of common farmers. Large farms
with large capital are better than small ones
But 200 acres Of land in the possession Of u
man who has only enough capital to stock
and develop 10 acres, leads us to one of two
things, either that ne pays taxes on 100 acres
which he does not use, or as is more COM
monty the case, he spreads his small cap
ital out over the whole 200 and 50 thin
Is it that it is like a spoonful of guano on
the Grand Prairie.
If Lowell man was to build factory
capable Of holding 10000 spindles, and then
put in one corner 500 spindles, leaving the
rest OF the space vacant, useless, Il mere waste
of capital invested, he would resemble farm
ers who buy hundreds and hundreds of acres
and let them lie unworked and unproductiye.
If the manufacturer were to spread out his
800 spindes over the building capable of
containing 10000, he would resemble the
farmer who puts upon 200 acres the labor
and manure which would barely suffice for
ten.
Farming is good business for all men
who conduct it on business principles, and
have capital according to the size of their
farms. If a man does not understand his
business he will fail, whether he be farmer,
lawyer, minister, or merchant If man
attempt to run mine, mandatory, bank
or a farm without capital, he will fail alike
in all or any of them, but no sooner in one
than another of them.
Farming for amusement is another and en-
tirely different thing. Some man prefer dogs
and horses some men pictures some men
landscape gardens and fancy greenhouses and
Others fancy farms, as means of agreeably
spending their money and occupying their
leisure. A farm may be a rich mans play
thing. He does not live from his ground.
Ills ground lives from him.