Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1873-11-26
T0f tho WalclmHn'
Are Farmers Making Money !

For the Waterman.
Are Farmers Making Money
OF late, il is questioned if farmers are
making money, and if so, is it solely by
farming Some persons have an aptitude
for money ge,tiug-will become fore-hnnded
in any calling they are placed others will
get a good lviug-grow no poorer or
richer There arc still others that cannot
get a good living, seeming to grow poorer
every year Of their lives their farms
are always for sale--ofton under the ham.
mer bankruptcy is their haven.
Now we will suppose that three persons,
\, d and c. each at the age Of twenty
five years, purchase a farm each having
the same means. Their farms cost them
nearly six thousand dollars apiece. After
stocking and furnishing their farms with oil
necessary implements, they find themselves
in debt four thousand dollars Their farms
contain about one hundred and eighty acres
each. In productiveness only average
buildings ordinary At the rate farm pro.
ducts are selling at the present time, and
considering the condition Of their farms,
they have the capacity Of producing not
over nine hundred dollars per annum with.
out the SHINING process Now, with
As sharp, money-making propensities, (it
would take full column to set forth the
means be uses to accomplish his purposes
probably some would call him misery, and
not be far from right, if they did not stop
aud consider that it was the only way 10
which he could free himself from debit 49,
and BIS style Of living well, aud not deny.
ing himself Of luxuries while with C's
shiitlessness, and his acquisitivcness not
fully developed, we have three different,
classes, which A, b and G fully represent
Probably no one would have any difficulty
10 putting his mind upon such within a short
radius Of his home.
OF b and Q we have but little to say
we deal principally with A. AS we have
before said, 5000 will be all A can sell from
his farm. 1t will be needless to mention
the products sold they are such as every
dairy farmer produces His outgoes will
amount to upwards Of $500 They include
hired help, farm and household expenses
The interest on that which he owes, s240,
taxes and other incidental expenses, will
foot mp another $780, which will in all
amount to $40. If any farmer can econ
omize more closely and save much or any
more, he is close calculator. - Under.
stand that at the same time A keeps up the
full value Of his farm and buildings. As
the latter were ouly ordinary when he be-
came the posscssor in number Of gears the
outlay will amount to a considerable sum.
A has sl6O to apply towards iquidating
his debt Provided he has no i'll luck it
will take him over fifteen years to extin-
guish it. He will then be forty years old
and has to show for his labors, his farm and
stock free from debt
For five years before A purchased his
farm, his savings amounted to 5000 a year
on the average He was mechanic, and
if he had continued at his trade he would
have gained in skill, and consequently in
creased his wages and savings. In fnan-
cal point Of view, would he not have been
gamer to have stuck to his trade? Con.
slider too the leisure time he would have
had, had he labored only ten hours day,
to devote to study recreation, or in what
ever manner he saw fit.
1t is said farmers have an abundance Of
spare time in the winter, Perhaps such as
b and have but A was not of that
cass-he worked early aud late. What b
and G thought they couldn't do, without
hiring, A went to work aud did. A.
threshed all his grain, and worked his wood
pile up alone he made sleds and OK yokes,
aud did hundred other things that b and
c never dreamed Of, but which could be
done then better than at any other time Of
the year, by a man who improved all his
spare time.
People may rave of the unproftableness
of farming Of its pleasures-as being the
vocation most free from dull care. These
are the two extremes. To be convinced Of
its not being all sunshine an eight months
course Of treatment Of general work will
do it fully.
Religion, alone, will not comfort til.
ler' Of the soil
To conclude; A person having health
aud the will to succeed understanding farm.
ing in all its phascs--by combining com.
mon sense with economy, will reach his
goal at last, satisfied as only one can be
who owns that which fire and floods cannot
sweep away, nor man destroy.
VERD MoNT.