The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1870-01-25
What l Know Of Farming.
ny HORACE GREELEY.


toward the West; Shall never remove
again; but, were 10 do 81, Il would be |
toward the East Experience las taught
Inc that the advantages Of every section
are c0unterbaAnrcd BY disadvantages, and
TINT, where my crop Is easily produced,
there II sells low, and sometimes cannot
be sold ut all, shall live and die right
here; hut, were to remove again, II
would not 10 toward the West"
This is but one side of truth, and I
give 1t for whatever it may be worth.
lind my tlthCr plunged into the primitive
forest In his twCnty-tiflh rather than Ills
forty.fly year, he would doubtless have
become more reCOnCilCd u pioneer life
tllnn lie ever did. would advise no one
over forty years Of age to undertake, with
scanty means, to dig farm out Of the
dense forest, where great trees must be cut
down and cut up, rolled into lOg.healS
and burned 10 ashes where they
grew. Where half the timber can
be sold for enough to pny the cost Of cut. |
ting, the case il different; but know right
well that digging farm out of tho high
wMIdS is, u any but man Of wealth, u
slow, bard task. Making one out Of naked
prairie, five to Ten miles from timber, Is
ilSS difficult, but not much. lie who can
locate where he luIs good timber on one
side and rich prairie on the other il iOrtu
nate, and may hope, II his health be
spared, 10 surround himself with every
needed comfort within ten years Still,
the pioneers life isH rugged one, especial.
II for women and children; and | should
advise any man who IS worth $8,OOO and
hns family, to buy ont M Improvement"
(which, in most c1lscS, badly needs I'M.
prOving) on the Outsktrt Of civilization,
rIthrr than plunge into the pathleSs forest
Or push out upon the unhrnkcn prliric.
rejoice that our Public Lands are free TO
actual settlers; believe that many are
thereby enabled 10 make for themselves
homes who otherwise would have nothing
to leave their children; yet much prefer
II location within the boundaries Of Civili-
ZutiOn tO me clearly beyond them. There
IL class Of drinking, hunting, fr0liCking,
rarely working lrOntiCrSlncn, who seem to
have been created on purpose to erect 10y
cabins anil break paths in advance OF IL
different claSs Of settlers, who regularly
come in to buy them out anIl start them
along after few years. should here
prefer to follow rather than lead. lfcn'
operation shall ever be successfully ap.
piled to the settlement Of wild lands, l
trust 1t may he otherwise.
lie who has IL firm already, and Is CON
tent with II, has no reason 10 nsk,
"Whither shall gOg" and he may rest
assured TINT thoroughly good farming
will Iay ~ well In New England rs In
Kansas or in Minnesota. | advise no man
who has gmNt thrm anywhere, and h
able to keep it, 10 sell and migrate. l
know men who make money Ivy growing
food within twenty miles Of this cityquite
~ fast as they could in tho West. you
have money 10 buy and work It, nnd
know how to make the most Of II, he-
lievc you may find land really ms cheap,
all things considered, in Vermont us in
Wisconsin or Arkansas.
And yet believe in migratiOn-bclicvc
that there are thousands in the Eastern
and Middle States who would improve
their circumstances anil prospects by mi.
grating to the cheaper lNnilS and broader
opportunities Of tho West and South.
For, in the first place, most men are by
migration rendered moro energetic
and aspiring; thrown among Stran.
gems, they feel the necessity of CX-
rrtiOn us they never felt it before
Needing almost everything, and obliged
to rely wholly OH themselves, they work
in their new homGSNs they never did in
their old; and the consequences are soon
visible all around them.
"a stern cliasc is u long Chase" say the
sailors and hC who buys farm mainly
on credit, intending to pay for It out Of
the proceeds. finds interest and taxes,
sickness, Ind seasons, llail, frost, drOutll,
tOrnatlOcS, floods &C., &C., dcranging, his |
calculations md impeding his progress,
until he is often compelled to give up in
despair. There arc men who Gun sur.
mount every obstacle and defy dtScOur.
agemunt--theSC need no advice; but there
arc thousands who, having little means
and large families, can grow into good
filrm more cAsily and fir more surely
than they can pay for 1t and these may
wisely seek homes where population is
yet sparse and land consequently cheap.
Doubtless, some migrate who might bet
ter have fnrbOrnG yet the instinct which
draws our raCc towards sunset is never.
tlGlrs,S II true one The East will moi be
tlcrnmlatcd but the West will grow
more rapidly in the COURSE Of the next go
years than ever in tllc past, The rail.
roads which have brought Kansas and
Minnesota within three days Of California
and within week Of us, has rendered
this inevitable.
But the South alsn invites immigration
us she never did till now. Her lands arc
still very CllcHr she is better ttmhcred, In
the average, tlINn the West; her climate
invites her unopened mines and unused
water.pOwcr call loudly for enterprise,
labor aud skill. II Is absurd to Insist that
her soil IL exhausted when not One-thlrd
of II hns ever yet been plOwed. Ito not
advise solitary migration to the South, be.
cause she needs schools, roads, bridges,
mills, &c, &c, which the solitary immi.
grant can neither provide nor well do
without; and | have no aSslIrNnCe that he,
IL Obligctl to work out for present bread,
would find those ready to employ and
willing to pay him; hut let hundred
Northern farmers and mechanics worth
81, 900 to $4,000 each combine 10 select
(thrOugh chosen agents. and buy ten or
twenty thousand acres IN some Southern
State, embracing hill and vale, timber,
ind tillaGp, watcr.nOwGr md minerals,
and divide II equitAbly among themselves,
at(cr laying II out with roads, park, II
villngc'plat, sites for churches, schools.
&C., and nm confident that they can
thus make pleasant homes more chCAply
and speedily there than almost anywhere
else.
Good farming land, improved or unim.
proved, is this day cheaper IN the UniteIl
States, all things considered, than In any
other cnuntry-cheapCr than 1t Gun long
remain. So many are intent on short cuts