Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1874-02-25
4Gatohman s. journal.
Farming, East and West.

Farming, East and West.
We publish on the fourth page, a letter
from an intelligent correspondent, who evil
IDENTIFY desires to make the most favorable
impression possible in respect to the profits
of agriculture at the West. In 1862 the
couveyanccs which he so wildly describes
were used to transport -four and grain, from
point as far South as Sank city, in Min
nesota, to Pembina, and the adjacent re-
gions. We saw then, while on an excur.
sion to Dakotab, thousands Of those single
OK teams conveying their small loads Of pro-
visions to the Hudson Bay Compauy's ter
ritories. We shall not soon forget the sur
prise with which we learned that the best
market for the -four manufactured north Of
st. Cloud, was then in the Red river region.
That corn has often been used for fuel at
the West is as much matter Of notoriety
as that it is raised there. Our correspond
ent may never have burned it, but we i'm
agine that very little Of it is ever raised
either for fuel or for bread, north Of St.
Cloud, or even St. Paul Minnesota is not
all Of the West. The difference between the
price of wheat in Milwaukee and Boston
on the 10Th Of February, was seventy cents
busbel, just the average cost of raising it,
either West or East. The difference be-
tween the price Of the same grade Of -four
10 Milwaukee and Boston, on the same day,
was from four to six dollars a barrel.
But the difference in the quotations Of
farm produce 10 Boston and Chicago, or
Milwaukee does not give any true idea Of
the different profits on the produce. When
the wheat Of the West has reached the
lake ports it has overcome a very heavy
cost Of transportation. That is, the aggre-
gate cost of transporting Western corn or
pork or wheat to Chicago from the dis
tricts where they are raised, is probably
equal to the cost of transporting the same
amount from Chicago to New York or
Boston Take, then, the difference in price
and ad to it the average cost Of inland
transportation to lake port, aud we find
out how much less is the profit Of West
ern farmer on a bushel of wheat or barrel
of pork, than is the profit of an Eastern
farmer Our correspondent says that tn,
average cost of raising wheat is seventy
cents per bushel, and the average yield il
twenty bushels per acre. The gross amour
is fourteen dollars per acre. Deduct tn,
cost of transportation, say on the aver
age, twenty cents per bushel to Chicago
and it makes the average cost Of the produc
to the farmer before he gets it to the market
ninety cents per bushel, or eighteen dollar
per acre He receives for it one dollar ant
twenty cents, or thirty cents profit pc
bushel, or six dollars profit per acre
man must cultivate good many acres Of
such profit before he can send his children
to higher school, or subscribe very largel,
toward building churches. And yet this i
an exceptional year for profits.
We do not deny to the West all it cal
reasonably demand its enterprise courage
self-sacri6ce, hopefulDess and activity, boast
fulness, magnificent possibilities; but whe
it claims larger profit on the products Of az
riculture than the farmers of the East oh
tain, it surpasses all bounds of commo
sense and palpable fact. And we still be
leye, Notwithstanding our correspondent
criticisms, that the West is founderiog i
the depths Of unrequted production. !
little farm well titled in the heart of Vel
mont is worth more to the working iarmC
than all the prairie there is between tn
Leaf Mountains and the Red river in Nil
uesota. If rich man should put an in
mense capital in Western prairie in
good year, he might perchance, grow vast
richer. Yet the next year he might lose
all. But a small farmer Of limited mean
who can afford no extravagant outlay, So
fcient to break up thousand acres, al
store the products, would more wisely st
in New England. The profit per acre
Western farming is so small that it requir
large number Of acres to be cultivated
order to make any considerable nggrega
amount To do this requires more capt
than most farmers can possibly commar
We do not undervaue the greatness of t
West. 1t is simply too great for any O
man to handle. 1t absorbs too much CT
ital before it can give remuneration.
kills out the small farmers. The West
therefore, loaded down with debt, at hea
rates of interest The farmers of Wa
ington County, Vermont, have probal
got half million, or even a million of d
lars, invested in the West. When
farmers of the county where our corr
pondent resides, can loan the East an ca
amount out Of the profits of farming, his
guments will be stronger.
Before his execution, franklin
Evans, who died on the gallows at CONGO