New-York tribune., 1870-01-29
UHATIKNOW or FARMING.
BY HORACE GREELEY.

PREPARING TO EARN.

as the vocation to which their future years are TO be
gwen by which their living is to be gained In this
chapter, would counsel young men, who. not hav.
ing been reared in personal contact with the daily
ana yearly round OF farmers cares and duties pur.
pose henceforth to live by farming
To these would earnestly say, "No hastow Om
boys are IN too great hurry TO be men, They want ia
be bosses before they have qualified themselves to be
efficient jouneymen ] have personally known sew
eral instances OF young men, fresh from school or
from some city vocation buying OF hiring farm and
undertaking TO work it; and l cannot now recall a
single instance in which the attempt has succeeded
while speedy failure has been the usual result. The
assumption that farming is q rude simple matter re-
quTug little intellect and less experience has buried
many a well-meanlng youth under debts which the
best efforts of several subsequent years will barely
enable him to pay Oft In my opinion half our farmers
now living would say if questioned that they might
better have waited longer before buying or hiring q
farm.
When l was ten years old, my father took job Of
clearing of the mainly fallen and partially rotten
timJer-largely White Pine and Black Ash-from
fifty acres of level and then swampy and and he and
his two boys gave most of the two ensuing years
uo2l-2l to the rugged task. When it was finished |
"a boy of twelve years-could have taken just such
a tract of halfburncd primitive forest as that was
y
pendure of seventy to eighty per cent Of the labor
we actually bestowed upon that. l had learned. in
clearing this how to economize labor in any future
undertaking of the kind; and every learns by
experience who steadily observes and reflects. He
must have been q very good farmer at the start,
very poor one afterward. who cannot grow thou
sand bushels of grain much cheaper at thirty years Of
age than he could at twenty.
TO every young man who has had no farming ex-
perence or very little, yet who means to make farm
ing his vocation say. Hire out for tie coming year
to the very best farmer who will give you anything
like the value Of your labor. Buy very few choice
books, tf you have them not alrcady,l which treat
of Geology, Chemistry Botany, and the application
of their truths in Practical Agricuure give to these
the close and thoughtful attention Of your few leisure
hours; keep your eyes wide open, and set down in
notebook or pocko .-diary each night a minute Of
whatever has been done on the farm that day. making
note of each storm. shower frost, hail. &c, and also
of the date at which each planted crop requires
tllage or is ripe enough to harvest, and ascer-
tanning, so far as possible, what each crop pro-
ducod on the farm has cost, and which Of
them all are produced at a profit, and which
at a loss. At the years end hire again to the same
orauother good farmer and pursue the same course ;
and SO do TIL you shall be twcnty-four or twenty
i've years of age, which is young enough to marry,
and quite young enough to undertake the manage
mcnt of farm. By this tmc, if you have carefully
saved and wisely invested your earnings, you will
have several hundred dollars; and if you do not
choose To migrate to region where land is very
cheap, you will have found some one willing to sell
YOU a small farm on credit, taking long mortgage
as security. Your mOneV-aesuming that Sou have
only what you vii, have earncd-will all be wanted
10 fix I'D your buildings. buy a team and COW, with
the few implements needed, and supply you with
provisions till you grow sOme Ii you can begin
thus experienced and full-handcd you may, by dIl-
ecnce combined with good fortune, begin to make
payments on your mortgage at the close OF your
second year
/ hate debt as profoundly as any one can
,a ,,..a J do not consider this really running
into debt. One has moro land thah he
needs. and does not need his pay lor u
forthwith; anotcs wants land, but lacks the means
of present payment. They two enter into an agree
ment mutually advantageous, whereby the poorer
has the present use and ultimate lee simple OF the
farm in question: in consideration of the payment of
certain sums as duly stipulated Technically, the
buyer becomes debtor; practically, do not regard
him as such, until payments fall due which he is IN
able promptly TO meet Let him vigorously AVOID al
other debt. and he need not shrink from OF be
ashamed of this.
Ibaye a high regard for scientific attainments; l
wish every yonng man were thoroughly instructed
in the sciences which uuderiie the art of farming.
But all the learning on earth, though it may power
fully help to make good farmer would not Of itself
make one, When young man has leaihed all that
seminaries and lectures. books and cabinets, Scan
teach him. he still needs practice and experience tq
make him a good farmer
-" But would MT you have young man study in
order that he may become a good farmeri"
If he has money Yes. l believe youth worth
four or five thousand dollars may wisely spend a
tenth of his means in attending lectures, and even
courses Of study at any good seminary where Natu-
raj Science is taught and applied to Agriculture But
life is short at best: and he who has no means, or
very little cannot really afford to attend even an
Agricultural College. He acquire much of
Science as is indispensable in the cheaper way
have indicated. lie cannot wisely consent to spend
the best years of his life in getting ready to live.
lie who has already mastered the art of farming,
hpd has adeonate means, may of course buy farm
tomorrow. though he be barely or not quite of age
He has little to learn from me- Yet | think even
such have often concluded in after years that they
were too Lasty in buying land-that they might
proftably have waited, anddelberated and garnered
the treasures Of experience, before they took the
grave step of buying their future homes; with re-
card to which, shall make some suggestions in my
next.
BOOKS FOR SALE AT THE TRIBUNE OFFICE
RECoILEcuoSs or A Busy LIFE. by Horace Greeley
Various styles Of binding Cloth, 81 tO Library - oo
Half Morocco, s.. Morocco Antique, 81.
POLITICAL ECONOMY. BY Horace Greeley Price, u 5O
M,RcApET FULLER's WORKS. New Edition. vols
Cloth, go.
TRIBUNE ALMANAC REPRINT. 1888 to 1868 2vos, Halt
bound, So
PEAR CULTURE FOR PROFIT. Quinn. ST.
TIENESTs OF AGRICULTUKE. Waring. New Edition.