Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1873-12-22
BUSINESS METHODS.


1t is very strong argument to prove
that the business of farming is eminent
ly profitable, that it is carried on in
neglect, or in defiance of the ordinary
principles of business, yet with measur-
able success. Thata large number of
farmers are not annually added to the
list of bankrupts, is sufficient proof
that their business is profitable. That
this exists, along with admitted and in
defensible careless management, is proof
that their business is abundantly pro-
6table. For equal success in other bus
mess or industries, every advantage
that can be secured by the most rigid
economy, the most improved methods,
the most economical labor saving mach
inery and the most skillful and in
telligent management are all needed
Those who do not bring all these to
bear upon their business, fail, 60 under
in the current of life, and disappear as
sunken wrecks to be not heard Of That
such unhappy wrecks are numerous and
oft-occurring is matter.of daily knowl-
edge and note to those whose life, spent
in great cities, brings them into contact
with what are called business men. The
small towns and rural villages, too, have
their failures, and although these wrecks
are smaller, yet they are equally disas-
trous in their effects. But such failures
are unknown among farmers. Certainly
there are farmers whose lives and hopes
are made wrecks of by the grossest mis-
takes if not by vicious courses, but by
the simple poor management which would
wreck business man in few months,
no farmer, to our knowledge, ever sue
cumbed. He might possibly fail to i'm
prove his position and be always behind
hand, but at the years end his head is
still above water, and if he is no better
off, he is no worse off than he was the
last year. and he has enjoyed all the
necessaries of life in abundance. If he
has allowed weeds to grow and rob his
crops, he still has some harvest to gath
er; if he has allowed his hogs and COWS
to trespass through his insufficient fences
upon his crops, he still has something
left upon his fields; if he has neglected
to procure any improvement upon his
native stock. he still has pork and beef,
although lean and light, to sell or eat !;
if his barns are open, and insufficient
for protection, or if he allows his stock
to shiver and suffer through the coldest
storms of Winter uncovered, although
stunted in growth, they still live, and
he can count as many in number, al
though they may not be so thrifty in
appearance, as his more careful neighbor
can; and. finally, if he expose his crops
to the weather, and his hay is mildewed
and his stalks musty, yet his stock man.
ages to exist, if they do not thrive, upon
the feed. In spite of all he lives, and
to some extent he thrives. But if the
dry-goods dealer and the grocer were to
, purchase their stock without the great
, est circumspection and caution-if they
were to expose it to the moth, to damp,
to the rain or sun, or to trespass by pill
ferers-or it, when the streets were
crowded, as upon court days or elections,
and customers were most numerous, they
were to close their stores and spend their
, time gossiping upon the street, and if,
in spite of all this they could succeed in
making living and in keeping the
| wolf or the Sheriff from their doors, we
, should certainly be led to believe that
, they had an excellent business. But
this, or something very like it a vast
7 number of farmers do year after year,
| and yet they live, but not without com.
) planning that farming does not pay. II
/ such farmers will only carry on theil
| business as the successful business man
carries on his they will find that they
: have really one of the best if not the
f most profitable and remunerative occu.
S pations in existence. The statistics oi
e agriculture, and the observation of prac
: tically-competent persons all go to prove
Y the truth of the above remarks.-N. 7
$ Times.