Litchfield enquirer., 1873-09-25

oSa1e@4 EA~S%AR& NAA 1S ES<Otueu HI lne heAs paper.
 ..ARrscuIture. and why Young Men
 have Deserted It,
 On our outside will be found the ad dress delivered at the chief agricultural fair of New England if not of the country. What Mr. Murray says is always spicy, original and suggestive, and he steers clear of those stale platitudes about the glory of farming which men who know nothing about that occupation usually in- dnlge in before rural audiences. We think. however, he goes to the opposite extreme and censures tine "old farmer" somewhat too indiscriminately. In fact one cannot but notice the inconsistencies betwesn the first part of his address in which he speGks of him as ''plodding on in the path which led him year by year into deeper discomfort and poverty and the Iztter in which he commends the hon. esty, krmness and strong common sense of the men who ' staked out the founda- ti0us of oar temple" The farmers who have always been the backbone of New Eng1And and of America have been grow ing R0re intelligent, richer, less ''plod- ding and less devoted to muscle rather than brain, gradnaIly but surely from the 6xzt t1l nOw. On the whole the past twenty years have been for him years of unusually r1pid progress. He uses his mmseles less snd his brain more than he formerly did Though still open to the charge brought by Mr. Murray of being slow tossineupOnthe special opportunities oEered him by the needs of our cities, he has learned to drop the cultivation of un- profitable crops and to turn his attention tOthose which are eremunerative to an extent that Is really wonderful considering the tenaeity of habit in farming community.
 StIu we cannot believe with Mir. Mur- ray that the business of farming will ever offer the inducements to the young man eager to substitute intellectual for manual labor. fond of society and amusements, and thirsting for wealth, offered by our cities. There the lottery of business re- wards a few with great prizes, and con- demns the many to life struggle vastly more harrassing and unproductive than the poverty which Mfr. Muaray iaments as the lot of the '1old farmer" The few re- turning from the city to their old country homes with fortunes are much more like ly Co send in crops of green farmers boys to giut the city market, than to show those who stay behind how farming can he made profitable. We recognize fully the fact that there is the tide setting back from the city to which Mir. Murray looks for the revival and regene- ration of the country. But we do not re- gard it as of the importance he attributes to it. Men who have worked at amassing fortunes in the city come back to the country to play at agriculture They &C., couplish much good by improving land, improving stock, and striking out into special farming enterprises, in none of which they make money themselves but in which they do all the experimenting and pioneer the way for the practical far ner. Nor are we sorry that ''fancy farm ing IS not business success. When ever capital finds it profitable to invest in land in the country, then America will fol- low the same evil road that has made the practical agriculturists of England de- pendent upon her landed gentry. There IS as Mir. Murray says a strong love of lAnd-kolding in the human race. and all that keepe the capitalist from controlling the country as he controls the city is the tAes that he cannot make anything on country farms if he buys them. r. .asass
 We believe that the farmer will always have to work hard, accumulate slowly, and be satisfied to live independently rAtAer than lnxuEiously. We cannot agree with AE. Murray in expecting time,
 when our young men shall see that in axhoEieultnre, lioriculture, horticulture, stuck raisiag and other refined and educa- tive branches of hnsbandry, they can earn enc. two. .three, five and ten thousand dollars per year. Exceptional cases of that kind may indeed occur; but no large eiMzs of yoang men can reasonably expect any sneh good luck. What the farmer gN1ns over his city brother is the priyil. edse q healthy work, of early marriage. of toieRahle comfort. and of great inde, Penaenee No amount of rhetoric, how ever. wiil eEer make farming attractive tc tle specially ambitious, specially able speeiAlly energetic young men who ars eruwding. and will continue to crowd iron rural New England into the cities.
 Capk !. E Whittlesey is paying a visit to his nAaive place and old friends in tha, viciaity. He nOw holds the responsible poaiai0n of postmaster of Houston, Texas. 1hia ia the chief money order office of the atzae. and Capt. ". was called on to fur. nszA honas in the sum of s240, 900 dollars 70 nest sAe rsmponsihility. The bond. siGned by She most reliable business men ef hounton. vas promptly furnished. 5 tacs uhich sufficiently indicates that the psepaa of taaat place hare fun aconiiaeucs in our cd townsman. ses