Wilmington daily gazette., 1874-06-10
DOES FARMING PAY a.?
From Ne Bali.mQre AmerIctn.


Land is selling entirely too cheap. Farming
IS not very profitable business, but as a gen
erai rule where the soil IS tOleTably good and
Tue season favorable, the owner of i've hun
urea acres ought to realize four or five per cent
per annum en- his investment, and get living
ior himself and family beside. Although the
prohts are not large and the labor is far from
DeIng easy, very considerable portion of the
people uf the United states prefer agriculture
10 all other pursuits, and are entirely satisfied
Win the modest returns which it yields. Nine
ty-nne hundreths of the farmers, in this coun-
Try are the sons of farmers, who have them
selves descended from long line OF cultivators
OF The soil. Ii Is about the only hereditary pro-
iesslon that we have. Every year tracts of
land are subdIvided and new houses and barns
are built, To the end that the sons OF farmers
VINO cannot be accommodated iu the ancestral
mansion may have homes for themselves. In
niue cases out OF ten, where land is sold either
Wy Tue owner or by an administ rator, executor,
or trustee, 1t Is bought by Il farmer residing in
the locality III which 1t - situated The pas
sion Tor eniarging tteiT possessions which all
wealthy farmers exhibit healthy instinct, and
comesnot less from the love OF agricultural pur-
SUITS than from n desire to transmit to poster-
ty an estate that will bear division
FOR these reasons tho price Of land ought
10 increase IN small ratio from year 10
year, ani undar ordinary rondiIious it
should never go down. Sometimes under the
llinulous CT "A foroign demand Tor agricul- =
turai products tanning lands are sold for
more than they afe orth, but tho number
OF acres that cuange ownership in any one
year IL so shlail III comparison with tue
| whole area OF cultivated territory, that The
Increased pTlCe per aero scarcely affects the
| general valuation. In 1860 aud ls66 th ere
| was very general rise IN tho price of cul :
| tivated land, but the causes were abnormal.
ar prices, had tiled tho farmers pock
cts with money, concerning tho standard
value OF which they had some niseiyings,
| and II Is not strange that thev were anxious
TO invest II IN land or any property less
perishable than greenbacks. those were
| "hush times times which we are not like
~ 10 SEQ again unless we have "A new issue
OF paper money. Since then real estate lex :
cept city lots has been steadily declining
aud it is lower now than 1t has been within
the last htteen years.
The reason of this Is easily Y planned As
We have already intimated, the purchaser
of farm Is, as a general rule, a farmer who
has other lands, III tho same II neigh hborhood
Now, tao farmers have made no money id
the last four or hve years, and conse quent-
ly when desirable property s offered fol
sale they are not able to buy. Three farm
containing about ono Thousand acres, Wert
sold IN Hartford county during the present
week. for loss than ono third OF what wai
paid for them IN ls66. Since then the build
; lngs have been improved, and the ianI
/. enriched with fertilizers, and tho fences pu
in excellent repair some OF tho field
wond in a aluglo scar produce a crop tina
would pay for tho hand on which il grew
All OF the Three farms are within an hours
| iue OF Baltimore by rail, aud each OF then
: is remarkably Welt adapted In the dair
business. They sold tor less than one-t
otthelr value simply because there are III
farmers ~ tho nslgnbnrhood that hav
saved enough money since their last pul
chase OF land To bny an additional tract u
any price. Wholt and corn have bse
selling for leqs thuu 1t cost TO till the sroun
thlesh the crops and send lhem to market
0 Tenants and landlords have esteemed them
selves fortunate II thev Coull keep out {
llebt.