Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1875-04-07
Why Farming Don't Pay.
A correspondent, writing in an exchange
upon the subject of wheat growing, says;

A correspondent, writing IN an exchange
upon the subject of wheat growing, says;
al know a few Of my neighbors who always
expect and get from twenty-five to thirty bushels
per acre and this they have done for years and
sometimes as much AS thirty-three and thrty-hYe
bushels, while upon equally as good land, at the
same time, their neighbors have been raising from
five To ten bushels; In fact, have in my mind at
this time field upon which tenant raised thirty
four bushels per acre, and yet the owner OF the
land has rarely II ever, succeeded in raising more
than ten to fifteen bushels on the same held.
Now this difference cannot be attributed to either
the land the season, for while the tenant was
raising thiTty-four bushels, the same year ON bet
ter land. ON the same farm, the owner succeeded
in raising but ten to fifteen bushels The differ
ance was in the manner Of cultyating, and all the
difference. While the one properly prepared his
ground, put his wheat in NJ the proper time and
In the proper way, the other did not; hence, the
widely different results and yet, this farmer is
going on in the same old way, with the same re-
suits, year after year, and all the time complains
ing that farming don't pay
There is an emphatic lesson in such ex-
amples as these One Of the most silly, con
ceited and pernicious ideas that has ever
been entertained by any people, even to the
extent of having it inculcated in their school
books, is the one which we New Englanders
so generally hold, that a Yankee is smart
enough to do any kind of business without
ever having learned it, The result is seen
among our mechanics of every trade, where
really thorough workman is a rare eXcer-
tom but it is most terribly conspicuous
among our farmers. The mechanic, though
he is but a SLOUGH, recognises and respects
good workman in his own line but it is
left for farmers to hold and continually ex-
press contempt for good work in farming.
All this must be changed, and good farm
ing must be received with respect and de-
sire to emulate and initiate ii, instead Of the
sneering, detraeting spirit so common among
us. When a man brings good stock into a
neighborhood, his neighbors, II intelligent,
would avail themselves of the advantages of
fered to them but so far is this from being
generally the case, that in conversation with
improving farmers all over the state we find
that if they get any support at all in their
enterprise, ii is almost universally away from
home, and through advertising, while their
neighbors are prophesying their i'll success,
and seeming to wish TO have their prophecy
prove true.
If grangerism will only so stimulate the
fraternal spirit among us as to do away with
this envious temper, and deyelope liberal
and generous spirit Of sympathy and good
will, it will more than pay all its costs, even
| II it is a perfect failure in every other re-
spect. Such illiberality is in fact due TO a
want Of the enlsrging influence of liberal
education and, as a rule, the more oultiva-
ton the mind receives, the more the feeling
Of fellowship is developed, and the wider is
the spirit of sympathy and the more lively
the appreciation of everything that tends
toward improvement. The better our young
farmers are educated, then, and the more
they become reading and thinking men the
less we shall see Of the carping enyious, de-
tracing spirit that is such discouragment
10 all who are striving to snake farming
pay In every sense.