Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1873-11-19

Farmers Profits.


Outlook > of October %, | think you must
have understood the farmers life, prospects
and success more in Imagination than by ac-
tual experience 1t certainly needs crea
tive fancy to place them in that highly indie
pendent position in which L lind them placed
by your article.
You say. & the only class that are above
any real distress are the farmers" 8 They
are above rant, loss, or fear. "TheIr lives
for the lew years past have been cast IN pleas
ant places'' O They have Cancelled their
mortgages etc. That is Office farming. 1t
is vastly easier to sit in the Office chair and
write OF the pleasures and profits OF farming.
than it s to grasp the stern realities oil
farmers life. Let US see how fact and
fancy compare.
The town of Waitsfeld is pleasantly stu
ated in fertile valley. Its Inhabitants are
mostly farmers. They are an intelligent and
bard-worklng class OF people, and yet, to-day,
more than one halt of their farms are under
mortgage, At the last annual taking OF the
grand list there were but five farmers IN town
that did not claim the privilege of taking out
some portion OF their stock for debts. know
of no reason why what is true in this town
should not, in a great measure, be the state
of affairs IN a majority of the towns in the
viz
class that you say need sing no other song
than " be gone, dull care" Sing such a
song as this, when their mortgages are be-
coming due, and their masters-the money
Ienders-are saying to them, 8 Money is tight;
We must have eight or ten per cent, or else
We must fOreclOse on the mortgage ~ Sing
such II song as this, when 1t is next to impOs-
sible to realize any money for anything they
NAV have to spare? when debts are becOm-
ing due, the -four barrel becoming empty,
cold winter coming on, and the children cry
ing for boots and shoes? Why, sir, under
such circumstances a man must be a born
idiot, or fit subject for Brattleboro, not to
have good sharp fit of the blues.
- The practice of severe economy on the
pars of many" That, sir, is no new thing for
the aamer; that is part and parcel of their
calling Que of the first principles of their
existence In whose houses would you look
t. fud he costly piano, the splendid pictures,
the ma ble-topped tables and other furniture
to match? Among the farmers? By no
means.
Who is it that make their annual tour to
the AdrOGdacks, there ID spend the heat OF
the summer months IN recreation and enjoy
ment? Who is it that have time and money
to visit the White Mountains Saratoga, New
port, and other popular places of resort?
Should you look for the farmers there, you
would find them as scarce as the old fashioned
gold eagle in contribution box. The fac.
is, they have no time or money to spend in
these pleasures. Should they do 50 they
would soon become candidates for the poor
house-with a fair prospect of election. Ne
cessity obliges them to practice the most
rigid economy. to dress plain and live plain !;
for the husband to put his own hands to the
plough, and the vile to make her own butter
and cheese-to be seamstress, cook, laundrcss
and wash-wOman.
You say 80 twenty cents per pound fer but
ter will amply repay the making" With
the present prices of labor, let see how
facts will warrant this statement. The aver
age price of farm that would keep twenty
cows and team we Will call five thousand
dollars. Stock and tools to run it would
cost not less than fifteen hundred dollars
more, making sixty FIVE hundred dollars clp-
ital invested. The cows throughout the
State do not average one hundred and TWEEN
ty pounds of butter each.
Allowing that to be the rage, it would
make the butter income. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS $3.50 90
Ten calves, eight dollars EACH 50 90
Ten calf skins... ,...-.--...-..-...... 10 90
Making income from cows..-.-.....-......s57OO 90
From which We have to take first the interest
capital. $500 90
Hired man eight months. 200 o.
ExtIa help in haying. - 90
Hired girl SIX months ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 90 GU
go on
u
OF course there is soma other income from
the farm, but there are more than outg~ e.
enough to balance it. The grain we sell will
not kt ep in -four, and the other items will
not pay our store and mechanics bills. Thus
you see at your priCe instead of" amply
paving" we should run behind hundreds OF
dollars yearly.
Again, you say: " Toll on the earth is
sure to pay rich per cent. The bottom
never drops out " About four years soce a
neighbor, wishing to change his business
offered his farm for sale. He was offered
fity-fve hundred dollars for it, but rather
than sell for that, he rented it on shares
What are the results? The man that rented
1t claitns TO have made no money. The
owner has never received enough to pay the
interest on his investment, and now offers t,
sell the farm for four thousand dollars. Tha
would look as if the bottom was well started
to say the least.
The newspapers are flooded with adver
tisements OF farms for sele at large dis
count from former prices. II the facts al a
you state them, farms ought not to 90 beg
gng Tor purchasers. l by no means despis,
farming; but when | zee farmers rated a
the best paid and most independent class 0
people, beg leave to enter my protest
FARMER, in Watchman
WaltsfeId, November 81, 1873.