Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1871-08-09
For the Journal.
=" Mhat I Know about Farming"


For the Journal.
What Know about Farming"
In the first place, know that tabor is the
only thing that pays on the farm. Crops do
not grow spontaneously at least they did
not grow Of themselves when run a farm
in Vermont, in the days Of my boyhood.-
The land had to be powed, and as our old
Dutch records says, " MANFRED :" then the
seed had to be sown or planted, and the har-
row or the hoe had to dress the soil over it.
Bat, the toll Of the ignorant will not Away
produce a crop. There is science as well as
work in successful farming. The labor Of the
farm. to make it a success, should be directed
by intelligence The burden of labor will
thereby be greatly diminished, and its results
vastly increased. When in Savoy in 1861
/ saw women sixty years Of age carry bun.
dies Of hay on their backs from forty to q
hundred rods to the stable These seemed
the most poycrty-sricken people on earth
and so they inevitably become, for the lack o.
skill in using labor for its best results. When
men aud women so become beasts Of burden,
or slaves, their very footsteps impoyerish the
earth under them.
The first thing claiming attention in farm
ing is the selection Of a farm. Almost any
land is adapted to some branch Of farming
industry. Sheep can thrive on your rugged
mountains In fact sheep farms are only
profitable, in long run, on cheap lands, un.
fitted for field and fruit culture Arabic
lands SO appropriated impovcrish their own.
ers and diminish the aggregate wealth Of the
State The reyulsions in the wool market
would be less noted If no lands were devoted
to sheep, save such as are only tit for raising
wool Wool at dollar pound might pay
reasonable rent for garden fields; but if the
price goes down to fifty cents or forty per.
haps, wool on such land is raised at loss
while wool and mutton produced on noun
tain pastures, if sold for thirty cents, adds
nearly all its proceeds to the aggregate in
come Of the farm 1t is wealth created, and
not purchased at the expense Of other yalua
Bile products In the selection Of farm,
then, you are in the first place to consider
what branch of farming you intend to pursue.
For dairy, table lands on hills, or shelves in
mountains, are best adapted to profit on the
outlay and cost Of the farm Your hill farm
ers, Of economical habits, as general thing,
lay up more money than those more iayorably
located on streams and thoroughtares. The
reason is, that half the money will purchase
hill farm that would be required to pur-
chase farm iayoraby located in valleys, on
streams or near towns The convenences of
living on the latter and the better facilities
they afford in respect to education and society,
have come to be elements Of value IN the use
of domestic home The hill farm will cost,
perhaps, $4,000, and will probably produce
one-third more Of the products Of the dairy
than the farms in the valley, where the same
number Of acres would cost perhaps twice as
much. But your hill farm, if it slope to the
south, and is not too much elevated, would pro.
duce better crops Of grain than your low lands
The hill lands are less subject to frost in the
spring and the early fall, and they also gen.
orally have a drier atmosphere, subjectng
small grains less to injury from rust and
lodging down. Hence, il financial profits |
are the prime object, the hill farm is to be
preferred to ,heyalley, especially if the young
farmer has but limited capital to start with
1t is to be noted, that opportunities for refine
ment aud intellectual culture are usually the
result, and not the origin of successful in.
dustrial pursuits A practical knowledge
OF farming, its processes and facilities, and the
best methods Of its pursuit, have come in this
competing age to be absolutely essential every
where. But, when mere social and domestic
convenience shall locate all your farmers, and
leave your fertile hills to revert to their prim.
tive wildness, it is seriously to be doubted
if the moral and intellectual progress of the
state will thereby be promoted, Let, then,
your wives and daughters feel that in cult.
waiting contentment and intelligence in their
mountain homes, they act as conservators, not
only Of the physical growth of the state,
but as guardians on the border of is ciyilza.
ton and refinement
But to recapitulate In selecting farm,
you are to consider your available means, and
the department Of farming you would prefer;
then select as would best answer your cir
cumstances and your plans.
| would not altogether discourage the run.
ming in debt for a farm, or part Of its cost.
But if this is the only way you can have
farm, get the one where the least outlay will
return the largest profit, and assure the estate
free Of incumbrance at the earliest day. 1t
will be easier to sell and shift your location
when you have thus saved something to com.
mence with on the dearer iarIn. A retired
merchant, who wishes convenient rural
home for his old age, may be governed by
different considerations But the young man
starting in life, must take more practical
view Of things. JoHS NJ. SrRARSs.
hihamsburgh, N. Y, July %, 1871