Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1874-05-22
Why FARMING DON'T PAY.

"'"'Ve' ""s Oeen uBuFea out 0y good calcu.
lators, and II has been shown that farming
will pay, and figures won't lie !" but then,
it has been demonstrated with equal math.
ematical accuracy that IL does not pay
ride our last census report Compare the
average per cent. Of profit that the farmers
of the country get for the capital invested
and labor performed with the returns for in
vestmcnts in manufacturing and professional
occupations, and it will be found that most
branches of industry are more profitable
than agriculture
Now why is tbis2 All admit that the
occupation Of the tiler of the soil is the
foundation upon which all others rest. Why,
then, is il not the most renunerative2 1t
is because il is not prosecuted as other occu.
patiOns areas a life business in which sue.
cess and profit are what is sought after.
There are too many farmers who are such
because they don't know what else to do.
Too many people who are farmers because
they had not shrewdness and intelligence
enough to succeed at some other business.
There are plenty Of men who have made
farming business, devoting mental as vel
as physical energies to it, aud have succeed
ed and they are not all engaged in some
one exceptional specialty.-they can be
found in every branch of farming. The
dairy, the orchard, the apiary, stock raising,
poultry keeping,-any and all the multitu-
dinous branches into which agriculture is d.
vided can show cases where men have found
them profitable and enjoyable occupations,
and all because they entered into their bust
ness as the merchant, the lawyer, or the
doctor 60 into theirs, as a business enter
prise in which the best planner and executor
will meet with the best success. Such in.
stances as these serve to show that farming
can pay, and will, if properly carried on.
Very often young>man engages in some
manufacturing or other occupation with the
hope of being able in few years to pur-
chase farm with his wages, and then re-
turn to the occupation OF farmer. While
sometimes these men succeed and make good
farmers. they oftener either fail to save any
money from their wages by reason of the in
creased expenses Of living in the villages
and cities, or get a distaste for farming
through hearing frequent derisive remarks
regarding that occupation from the associates
they find in the cities and villages, which
are like the continual dropping that wears
away the stone.
The sooner every one eau divest himself
of the idea that the farmer needs no brains,
no experience, nothing but physical FORCE
that he is a mere automatic machine which
cannot fail OF raising crops, the better it
will be for all, and the sooner will agricul-
ture take the high position among the
occupations of mankind which by
right belongs to it, There is as
great difference between the value of
skilled and unskilled labor on the farm as
anywhere else, aud it is as essential to the
'B"S'' uueieo VI succesS thht man shOulu !
have had practical instruction and training
before he undertakes to manage business for
himself. If young man intends to be a
blacksmith, a joiner, matchmaker, print |
er, or to follow any other mechanical occu-
patton, he takes it for granted that special
education. for the business is necessary, but
II he proposes to be farmer, because others
have succeeded in making hiring by mere
physical exertion, he accepts it as an un-
questioned fact that no preparation is neces-
sary for that occupation This is one of |
the reasons why farming don't pay. Would
other occupations pay under similar circum-
stances ? There is no business in the world
where the intelligent application of practi-
cal skill combined with mental power can
bring better returns.
Another mistake often made is to run in
debt for a farm and stock and then,
crowded and harassed by creditors, try to
make the business pay. What would we
think OF man who, without a cent of
capital, would purchase a large stock of
goods on credit and embark in trade? He
would be sure to fall sooner or later. So
in ninety -nine cases out of a hundred is the
farmer who undertakes to run his business
on the same principle. There are thousands
OF men now with farms half paid for who
struggle hard to raise barely money enough
to keep the interest paid on the other half.
Ii you have not business tact enough to
acquire money while working for wages, do
not try to manage business for yourself If
a man can buy a farm in the con-
diton in which the farms that are for
sale generally are, and pay for it all down,
be will then no doubt find it profitable to
hire One-third as much to expend in improve.
ments in putting the farm and appurtsnanc-
es IN condition to immediately begin to
pay good profit, but he who is without
means, with his credit already exhausted in
procuring his farm and stock, finds himself
crippled at every turR and compelled TO do
without those conveniences and improvements
without which it is impossible to do his
work in the best and most profitable manner {
Fertilizers are to be procured buildings and /
fences put in thorough repairs and thous- /
aud other leaks stopped which, if left open,
would eat up all the profits and a part of
the capital every year. The man who has /
not capital or time to keep his fences in re- I
pair, his stable warm aud the floor sound
has not capital or time to make anything
but failure as farmer. Some men live