Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1870-03-03
Sartll aud gOnsfhnld.
Will Farming Pay P

- . - ~
RES of essays on "What I Know
of Farming" The first topic he
discusses is, evil Farming Pay p
We make the following extracts
81 commence my essays with
this question, because when | urge
the superior advantages of rural
life, ] am often met by the objec-
ten that farming don't pay
That, if true, is serious matter.
? Let US consider
81 do not understand It to be
urged that the farmer who owns a
large, fertile estate, well fenced,
well stocked, with good store of
effective implements, cannot live
and thrive by farming. What is
meant is, that he who has little but
two brown hands to depend
upon cannot make money, or can
make very little by farming.
III think those who urge this
point have a very inadequate con-
ception of the difficulty encounter
ed by very poor young man in
securing 6 good start in life, no
matter. in what pursuit. / came
to New York when not quite of
age, with good constitution, good
health, a fair common-school edu'
cation, good habits, and a pretty
fair trade--that of printer.
think my outfit for a campaign
against adverse fortune was decid'
eddy better than the average; yet
ten long years elapsed before il
was settled that / could remain
here and make any decided head
way. Meantime, ] drank no liq-
uors, used no tobacco, attended no
balls OF other expensive entertain
ments, worked hard and long
whenever 1 could find work to do,
lost less than a month altogether
by sickness, and did very little in
the way of helping others. |
Judge that quite as many did
worse than / as did better; and
that Of the young lawyers and doc
tors who try to establish them
selves in their professions, quite
as many earn less as earn more
than their bare board during the
first ten years of their struggle"
Mr.. G. mentions several instan-
ces illustrating the success that
men, with his knowledge, have a.
chieved from very small begin
nings by patient, intelligent, WELL
directed effort. depend upon it, /"
be says, "young men, it is and must
be hard 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 seemto
have a quick and easy way of ma
king thousand dollars ; but who
ever makes that sum honestly,
with nothing but his own capaci-
ties and energies as capital, does a
very good FIVE years work, and
may deem himself fortunate If he
finishes it so soon"
Probably no man in this coun.
try applied scientific facts to prac'
teal agriculture more successfully
than Prof. J. Mapes, to whom Mr.
Greeley refers in the first of the
following paragraphs. He illus
trated scientific farming" by rails
ing such crops as filled those who
saw them with wonder:
"Walaing one day over the
farm of the late Prof. Mapes. be
showed me field Of rather less
than ten acres, and said, 4 bought
that field for s2,400, year age
last September. There was then
a light crop Of corn on it, which
the seller reserved and took away.
Iunder-drained the field that fall
ulowed and subsoiled it, .fertilized
II literally, and planted il with
|. cabbage and when these matured,
II sold them for enough to paw for