Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1870-01-13
How can we Make Money,

How can we Make Money,
There is a large class Of Farmers who
believe that nothing more than living can
he made from ordinary farms. and they act
up TO that idea Amer lifetime of hard
work and strict economy. they leave just
about what their fathers left them. except.
perhaps. that their farms are worth more
per acre on account of the rise in general
property
Now we are of those who firmly believe
that this need not be so. and are ready TO
give the reasons for the faith that is in US"
Our first reason is found in the nature Of
things. The miner in the gulches of Cali
fornia or Australia, rcckons the earth under
his feet a. worth one. two or three dollars
per cubic span. because he can wash that
amount Of gold from among It's particles
hut once washed. and its value i gone
He has 40 art by which he car make it yield
again. He has no seed time and harvest.
and no annually repeated crop. The farm
er. on the contrary. can not only secure an
annual harvest. hut by \ judicious arrange
ment Of crops. a thorough cultivation. and
liberal return Of the elements exhausted
from The soil can oftcn draw twice In the
same season from the bountful supplies of
nature.
The more deeply we mellow her surface;
the more thoroughly we pulverize her
clods the more literally we feed her with
the riches of the harn-yard the muck
swamp and the feriilzing deposit of the
Guanu Islands the more beautifully does
mother earth produce for our needs. No
one yet knows how much an acre can bc
made to produce No one has ever reach
ed the limit Of It's productive capacity. Al
German Mecchi. the famous English farm
or. who has probably carried cultivation To
the highess point ever attained on larg,
scale, reports average crops. three or four
times greater than the ay erage of the prize
crops on our best lands. and al a CORES
pondin. increase of profit. Our first reas-
on then. for believing that money making
is possible TO all farmers. is that the pro-
ductiveness Of the soil Is as yet unlimited.
Our second reason i, that here and there
may be found men who have gotten rich
upon ordinary farms, and under ordinary
circumstances One OF the most promi-
Dent of these is thatveterau OF agriculiur-
al Improvement. John Johnston OF Geneva
y. Y, now past three score and ten. but
enjoying. in a serene old age. the fruits of
a long life of hard but judiciously applied
labor
Every one at all familiar with the history
OF agricultural improvement knows some
thing of his life history how in early man
hood commencing with less than loo acres
OF exhausted land and no capital he mort
gagged his farm for means 10 import drain
tile, he drained field after field. cultivated
deeply and thoroughly. saved and jndicious-
~lv applied all the wastes Of the farm. liquid
and solid. experimental upon rotations IN
till he had a settled plan. added bushel az
ter bushel TO the average yield of his fields,
added field after field. until his farm reach
e. several times its original dimensions. and
its original productiveness.
Having passed his days of active labor,
he has leased this once sterile farm for a
series of years at SIS. per year, per acre.
There are other examples of as marked
success a. his. but none SO long continued
Another class OF men who have proved
that farming can be made TO pay. are those
who having left the farm in early life, have
made fortunes in city business, and gone
back to the farm in later years. They have
invested large amounts of money in i'm
provements, improved stock. improved i'm
plements, improved methods OF saving and
using mannres, not caring whether tn ir
investments paid or not, and have made
money in spite of their carelessness and
lack of practical experience. A good COM
mon sense farmer would have made the
same Improvements at one half the expense
and yet they have paid. We could mention
q number OF such cases which have fallen
under our observation.
Another class of men have spent large
amounts of money upon experiments, many |
Of which proved failures, while many more |
have been of great value. This dearly pur-
chased experience is now free to all VIII, |
will use it, without money and withou
price.
Why then do the majority of farmers |
make so little over and above the bare ne
cessities of their families.
There are three reasons which apply to
three different classes of farmers. BY far
the largest majority do not know how
They have farmed on certain plan all their
days, and either do not know, or will not
believe. that there is better way. Anoth-
er class believing that there are better
Ways, yet do not know what they are, and
uin1naw