The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1876-10-07
M!ht Rsatttt.
THE BEST.PAYING CROPS.

Every once in while some poor fellows
head is turned at the report OF some other
body's success with some one crop or
another. The figures are astounding. He
firmly believes that what one man has done
another can do, and he ventures in the
same field, only to lose in some cases all.
And yet it is true that almost all the best
success in farming or gardening comes
from close attention to some one crop,
specially and above all.
But no one can tell another what is best
for him to grow. Even when the SOIL Is
specially adapted to certain crop, there
are all the little details of practical culture
to be mastered and even then the question
of marketing enters largely into the success
of the experiment.
1t is often matter of envy with farmers
of certain class, that mercantile affairs
should seem to make more satisfactory
ventures than farming; but it is seldom
thought over how these very successful
businesses are established. There is no
reason why just the same processes may
not lead to great successes on the land as
in the store; indeed, it is common expert
ence that it is so. Hundreds of men every
year make money to their entire satistac-
ton out of agricultural or horticultural
pursuits. They are not so we'll known, do
not make as much show as the storekeeper
-agriculturists are too much scattered to
make this imposing appearance-but the
profits we speak of are there as surely in
the one case as in the other.
These successful businesses are simply
the result of series of experiments as to
what can best be done. Hardly a business
that we know of, that may be pointed out
as illustrative of great success, achieved
that success in the line marked out for it
at the start. A general knowledge of some
one thing may have suggested the enter
prise but one after another, as some parts
would be better understood, the least profit
able would be dropped, and, in many in
stances, firms that began dealing in a dozen
articles would end in only one. We have
' frequently pointed out the fact, and urged
on cultivators that this is the only way to
get into the special crop business; but we
have the matter brought to our mind just
now through a history of very wealthy
farmer of Massachusetts, which is running
the rounds of the papers, and serves very
we'll to illustrate the doctrine which we
have so long taught.
This man farmed as other men farmed,
but with an eye to any special excellence
of anything that bis land, his knowledge
or his circumstances might suggest. He,
however, kept in with all the regular rou-
tine of farm crops in the meantime. lie
found that he could grow small picking
cucumbers better than his neighbors; but
he did net thereupon plant all his farm
with cucumbers. He knew that such a
business, like the CROP must have time to
grow. His first crop was on about an acre.
The crop was good, but the sales were bad.
For these specialties it is always bard to
find market at last. The next year he
had less difficulty in selling, and he ven
tured to increase the acreage. Thus he
has gone on till be has sold easily and at
good prices the product of seventy five
acres of cucumbers; and now feels that he
is safe with no other crop but this.
Now there is scarcely district of country
in the whole United States but is able to
grow some one thing little better than
another thing. 1t should be a continual
subject of experiment on every farm as to
what will grow and thrive remarkably we'll;
and having found this out, what would he
the prospects of good market for it. 1t
is rare indeed that any one who raises just
exactly what his neighbor does, ever makes
great strike in the way of wealth. He
makes out Of wheat, or corn, or pork, 4
fair average living price; and if he is a
little more intelligent than some as to the
niceties of cultivation, he may make more
than his neighbors; but the rich farmer is
generally he who, by careful observation
and calculation, is able gradually but surely
to get out of the beaten track.
Germantown Telegraph