The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1873-07-31
The Best Paying Farm Crops.

One of the most common of questions put to
those supposed to know, is what is best to raise
on ones farm? Hore is perhaps, tolerably.
successful farmer, or there may be an editor Of
a highly popular and successful magazine, and
to them comes the question, perhaps score OF
times.a year. "What shall I grow to make
money fast?" 1t does not seem to occur to
these unhappy people that if those they. ask
knew how to coin money they would make 1t
themselves instead of telling others how to do
it; yet this question or the substance of it, is of
continual occurrence.
Young men going to farming or old ones for
that matter, starting on the same road, might
as we'll understand at once that successful
farmer, is never made to order. Rarely indeed,
has any one made money in the exact way he
expected to make it. There may be the gen.
eral plan, and this may be carried out pretty
nearly as mapped but the filling in, the de-
: tail comes after. The one who succeeds as q
general thing, is the one who has the knack of
seizing on circumstances quickly as they arise,
and turning them to good advantage.
Look at our most successful farmers and who
are they? We know of many men who began
their farming career with five to ten thousand
dollars, and in almost all cases they made dis
astrous failures. They knew of men who made
money by raising grain or stock raising, or
dairying, or trucking, or fruit culture, and they
thought to do as the otheB did. We know of
but very few who are farmersSand of those who
are the majority lost heavily at first, but had
sense enough to profit by their losses, and to
make up at length in gain what they paid for
in dear bought experience. The most of those
who are well off, and we know of hundreds of
farmers who are such, began in very small
way at first; who could not spend money in
following after other people, but who had to
find out step by step what they could do, and
do to the best advantage. They thus learned
what paid them best, and they had to turn
their best experience 50 the best account.
The most of these successful farmers, too, are
the ones who fixed themselves tolerably close
to one place. They may not have acted with
the best judgment in locating themselves; but
instead of trying to mend this error, undertook
to make the best of it. 1t is almost impossible
for any man, let him be ever so experienced a
farmer to tell at once what his ground is best
fitted for under an experience OF two or three
years but when once that knowledge is gained
he can push this more and more every year;
and it is these special superior productions
which tell
Besides all this, what farmer is going to
get for his crops is of as much Importance to
him as the ability of the soil to bring them to
perfection and this market knowledge is also
q thing Of growth, which one can rarely tell to
another.
In brief, the successful farmer is the one who
knows how to feel his way. To such an one it
is almost impossible to tell what he should
grow He must begin carefully aud find out
for himself The best advice to all new begin
ne-s at farming is, not to spend all their money
too soon. Let no tempting speculator induce
them to so heavily in debt. Always, if posi-
BILE, keep some cash in reserve, and never run
close on the last dollar until considerable ex-
perience on that particular farm has been had.
Some will say, you can never get rich on a
farm, if you have no capital of any account,
unless you do go in debt. This to certain
extent is true; but it makes all the difference
whether you go in debt on a mere suspicion of
success, as thousands of borrowers do, or
whether you wait first until by little hard
experience you see clearly what you can do.