Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1874-06-05
WHY FARMING PAYS.

why farming, with some, is Improbable, Ia |
large volume would be required to name
over all the reasons,) let us take look at
the other side Of the picture, for all life-pic-
lures are saidto have two sides. Hardly
man can be found engaged in other occupa-
tions but will say that farming is the most
healthful and enjoyable Of occupations" but
he always has some special reason to offer
why he is not farmer. The fact is, in nine
cases out Of ten, they do not believe it.
They have an idea that farm work embraces
an amount Of drudgery and discomfort that
takes away oil enjoyment.
This is not the case. The farmer is, an
reality, the most Independent of men. lie
produces his own food, and often share of
his clothing. He looks at the mechanic who
earns two or three dollars a day and thinks
that is much better than he can do, but how
many more of these mechanics lay up any.
thing than Of farmers The mechanic finds
it as hard to support life on salary of
three dollars per day as does the farm hand
to lay by something at twenty dollars per
month. When times are hard, as last fall,
the villager is liable to 6nd himself out Of
employment with neither provisions nor
money, with two or three hundred dollars
per year to pay for rent and fuel, and all
the necessaries of life to buy. On the 9th
er hand the farmer has his crops, and can
live ON them, rent he never thinks Of and
his fuel costs him only the labor Of cutting
and hauling short distance "Hard times"
come to The villager and the farmer with very
different aspects. The former must have
money not only to meet his bills falling due
but to purchase the necessities of life, or
starve; the latter has his necesSdrieS under
his own control, and the panic affects only
his surplus as to sales, or luxuries which can
be dispensed with as regards expenses. We
do not speak of the man whose business has
been some kind of speculation, and who con-
sidered his farm a sort of side show-he
will have debts to pay, and must needs
make sacrifices to meet them or turn bank
rupt-but the man who owns his farm and
stock, and who makes their improvement his
business. And we would advise every
young man to wait and work until he can
buy his farm and pay for it. 1t will require
few years of patience, and he will have
visions of others who have bought farms on
credit and paid for them in short time
and it is Yankee nature to believe ones self
capable of doing anything that some one
else has done. But the proportion of those
who fail is large when compared with the
successful ones. There will be ways enough
in which money will be needed for the first
few years, if the farm is all paid for. And
year or two of poor crops or low prices
will not necessitate the giving up of the
farm and the loss of what has already been
paid.
One of the principal advantages which
the farm holds out to a man with small cap.
ital is the opportunity to be independent.
The money which would buy him home in
the village or. city, while he must work for
some one else his ten hours every day to Sc
cure the means of subsistence, will buy
small farm wherein he can 60 and come
when he chooses. lie has his team if lie or
his family wish to 60 to ride, and needs
not to 60 to the livery stable and pay tive
or three dollars q day.
No other business is so sure to pay
moderate profit as this no other business
will admit of so much neglect with 50 little
loss. The lawyer, merchant, or doctor must
be at his post when called for, or he will
lose customers the farmer can 60 and come
when he pleases, and can occasionally leave
his work for day or week with no loss.
His crops or his stock are growing, day or
night, whether he wakes or sleeps. To be
sure, he must be Industrious and attentive
to business to succeed, bat he is not tied to
the same dull routine day after day.
The fortunes of Vanderbilt or a Stewart
are not to be found on the farm, but for
peace, quiet contentment, and true happi-
ness, no other spot ION earth is its equal
The merchant or manufacturer in the hustle
Of the great city sometimes looks back in his
memory to the dear old home among the
green hills, and feels that he would willingly
exchange his present lot for the pleasures Of
those days when he was farmers boy aud
left for the city believing that "farming
don't pay"
A comfortable fortune is sure to reward
the intelligent application Of brain and
hands to the Improvement Of the farm and
the production of crops and stock, but that
which alone makes money desirabe,-the
means of true enjoyment,--is also hero
available.
Hearty, robust health, without which no
real enjoyment can be found, exists out in
the broad, free country, as it does not in the
crowded metropolis. Every breeze coming
across the hills, and the genial sunshine, car
ry it. The birds in their gladstone warbling
testify Of its presence, and all things tend to
lead the thoughts up to the Giver of all in
thankfulnOss that the world is so large, SO
free, so happy. In all these ways, and in
many others, the tiling of the soil pays !;
pays in the pocket, in the heart, aud in the
soul; pays as no other occupation ever did
or ever will, because it is the foundation up.
on which all others rest.
The Illinois State Fish. Culturists' Associ-
alton was organized at Egin last month.