Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1872-03-25
1T DOES NOT PAY TO FARM.

1T DOES NOT PAY TO FARM.
It does not pay to farm is what is
now heard ON every hand. 81 can live
easier on the interest of my money and
be rid of the care of the farm, y says the
wealthy man. at is too hard work,
and l can never pay for the farm in such
times as these" says the young man
without means.
Perhaps the wealthy can live easier
to loan their money, and young men find
other pursuits an easier livelihood But
what then? IF all the wealthy are to
be idle, and all the poor seek the easiest
living, who are to be the producers /?
The waves of the ocean may crowd one
another upon the land, but the time
comes when they must seek their proper
level. This rule is simple and univer-
sal in application-that things regulate
themselve As the winds and storms
may keep the ocean wave upon the land
for time, so the allurements of ease
and the want Of energy may cause farm
ing not to pay.
But my rule is this: That upon a
farm rightly managed there is always
something that pays. 1t may be cattle,
it may be sheep, it may be selling of
produce, but there is in something a
sure source of profit. The Improbable
ness of farming then consists in not per-
ceiving the thing that pays. A safe
rule is this: Keep mixed stock, and
not so much of either but that you can
add little to that which pays best noao,
and not diminish that which may pay
best tomorrow If butter is worth fifty
cts per pound do not convert all your stock
into COWS, for butter is an article whose
price is governed by the ratio of supply
to demand. Because your neighbor has
made fortune quickly and easily out of
some one thing, do not stake your all
upon single venture. have seen hops
sell one season for fifty cents per pound,
and the next be worth but FIVE In one
case they paid clear net profit of about
one thousand dollars per acre, and in the
other about one-half that sum was out Of
pocket The result One-half of the
farmers in the valley ruined Farming
did not pay.
Much of the discomfort of farmers
comes from the false statement of those
whose advice is taken at par, who, de
signedly or otherwise, do not reckon cor
rectly. Says farmer who is part own
er in large river farm, Farming doe
not pay three per cent" Say, for in
stance, he has ten thousand dollars in
vested for his share of the capital. A
the end of the year he finds, taking on
his salary. that he is inst three hnndrae
dollars better off, three per cent. on th,
capital. Farming does not pay! Blu
let us reckon a little farther He ha
supported family in such style ant
: dress that one thousand dollars has beef
expended. This is little item over
: looked in calculating the per cent OIL
invested capital, which, added to tn
three hundred, makes per cent. NOR
: satisfactory than can be obtained in an,
other way. The wealthy, then, nee
; seek no better investment for their mon
ey. even in these hard times, than tn
farm
And now what can be said to Undue
the young men to stay upon the farr
which they have bought with the rea
sonable hope that they can pay for il
In my judgment, the failure of the farr
: to pay young men is as much due to tn
style they support as to their mismar
: agement. Reason must be used in a
things and common sense teaches tina
> pecuniary success depends entirely upo
= living within our means. For instance
+ if the farm pays thirteen per cent. an
only three per cent. is used in supper
e of family, the residue, above the inter
est paid upon borrowed capital, can b
0 used to diminish that capital.
The conclusion, then, must be tha
farming can be made to pay now b
$ keeping in mind the ratio of the suppl
g of any one thing produced to the deman
! of that article, and by greater econom
;, in our expenditures. That farming ma
be made to pay better is unquestionabl'
u but it is no good ground for so niue
discontentment The farmer who own
a Connecticut River farm, or any othe
of good location and productiveness, wit
a taste for farming, has no business
= leave it for other pursuits or for home
S in the West. Nopursuit is more health
: independent and profitable, and no hon
/; at the West can equal the one you leav
+ either in desirableness, beauty or con
" fort. Hence we must remain farmer
d and make the farm pay.-Remoh 4
l. Mirror and Farmer.
e A writer in the Horticulturist saws
d buys bones of the butcher at dolls