Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1870-02-04

Horace Greeley is writing series
Of articles for the New York Tribune
entitled "What / Know about Farm
ing" and dovotes the first Of the
essays to answering the above ques-
ton. The deductions are probably
drawn rather from Mr.. Grecley's
observation than his experience
81 commence my essays with this
question, because, when urge the
superior advantages of rural life,
| am often met by the objection that
"Farming don't pay" That, if true,
is serious matter. Let us consid-
er:
~ do not understand it to be urged
that the farmer who owns large,
fertile estate, well fenced. will stock
ed, with good store of effective i'm
Elements, cannot live and thrive by
farming. WhAtis meant is, that he
who has little but two brown hands
to depend upon cannot make money,
or can make very little by farming.
81 think those who urge is point
have very inadequate conception
Of the difficulty encountered by every
poor young man in securing a good
start in lite, no matter in what pur-
suit. I came to New York when
not quite of age, with good consti-
tuition, a fair common school ednca.
ton, good health, good habits, and
a pretty fair trade-that of printer.
l think my outfit for campaign
against adverse fortune was decided
ly better than the average; yet ten
long years elapsed before it was SET
tied that I could remain here and
make any decided Roadway. Mean
time, l drank no liquors, used no to.
bacco. attended no balls or other ex-
pensiye entertainments, worked hard
and long whenever l could find work
to do. lost less than a month alto
gcther by sickness. and did very
little in the way of of helping others.
l judge that quite as many did worse
than as did better; and that Of
the young lawyers and doctors who
try to establish themselves in their
professions, quite as many earn less
as earn more than their bard board
during the first ten years Of their
struggle"
Mr.. G.. mentions several instances
illustrating the success that men.
within his knowledge, have achieved
from very small beginnings by patien,
intelligent, well-directnd effort. ODE
pend upon it," he says, "young men.
it is and must be hand work to earn
honestly your first thousand dollars.
The burglar, the forger, the blackleg
whether he play with cards, with
dice, or with stocks,) may seem 10
have a quick and easy way of max
ing a thousand dollars ; but whoever
makes that sum honestly, with moth
ing but his capacities and energies as
capital, dues very good FIVE years.
work, and may deem himself fortu-
nate if he finishes it SO soon."
Probably no man in this country
applied scientific facts to Practice
agriculture more successfully than
Prot, J. Mapes, to whom Mr.. Greeley
refers in the first of the following
o ayr. phs' He Illustrated "scien-
tic farming" by raising such crop,
as filed those who saw them with
wonder:
Walking one day over the farm Of
the late Prot. Mapes, he showed me
4 field Of rather less than ten acres,
and said, 81 bought that field for
So, 400, . year ago last September.
There WAS light crop of corn on it,
which the seller reserved and took
away. l under drained the field that
Fall, plowed and subsoiJd it. fortified
il literally, and planted it with cab
bage and, when these matured II
sod them for enough to pay for land.
Iabor, and fertilizers altogether. The
field was now worth for more than
when he bought it, AMI he had clear
ed it within fifteen months from the
date of it's purchase. consider that
a good operation. Another year,
the crop might have been poor, or
might have sold much lower, so as
hardly to pay for the labor; but there
are risks in other pursuits as well as
in farming.
ga iruit-farmer on the Hudson
above Newburk showed me, three
years since, a fed o! eight or ten
acres which he had nicely set with
Grapes, in rows ten feet apart, with
bols Of Strawberries between the
ows, from which he assured me that
his sales exceeded $500 per aEnum.
| presume his outlay for labor, includ-
ing picking, was less than $500 per
annum; but ii cost something to
make this field what it then was. Say
that he had spent $1,000 per acre in
nnder draining, and enrichihg and
filling this field, to bring it to this
including the cost of his
plants, and still there must have been
q clear profit here of at least 5000 per
acre.
81 might multiply illustrations but
let the foregoing suffice. l readily
admit tina: shiitless farming don't
poor crops don't pay-that
it is hard work to make money by
farming without some capital-that
frost, or hail, or drouth, or floods, or
insects, may blast the farmers hopes
after he has done his best to deserve
and achieve success; but I insist that
as a general proposition Coon Farm.
ing DOES pay that few pursuits at.
ford as good prospect, as full an as.
surance, Of reward for intelligent.