The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1877-09-28
FARMING.


The Baltimore Sun argues that In THESE
dsvs the man who owns good farm I'M
sncumbered has got hold of good thing.
From 1860 to 1867 prices ruled high and
money was made. An ebb'tide set IN
afterwards and things are only now set
Ting down to a healthier condition. But
through prosperous or unprosperous
t;nes the man whose business is agricul-
ture. and whose property is the land he
cultivstes, finds himself. if ne is methodi-
cal and thrifty, on solid foundation.
He may be compelled TO econemize he
may have to cut down his clothing Dill,
his grocery bill, and every other
household expense that Will Dear
rrpning. But. after sll, he can
trust to seed time and harvest
and wait The soil he owns will still be
under his feet. He can supply his table
from It with wholesome food. His woods
will give him fuel. His children will
have pure air and brscing exercise. This
is his safety. Though the country be
shaken with commercial disasters he can
weather the storm. He may feel the
stress and indirectly suffer somewhat
from.it. But the worst aspect of his case
would be blessing TO many citizen
many merchant, stock broker and
trader. This sense OF security, when all
else seems fugitive, is equivalent in itself
to small fortune.
At the Baltimore county farmers re-
union LAST week Mr.. Piollet, the head
master of the Pennsy ivsnia grangers,
stated that the farmer obtain ed on An
average only three per cent upon his
capital, if he meant that the farmers
average net returns in money were but
three per cent Mr.. Piollet was probably
right, and, taken by itself, everybody
will admit that it is low interest. But
when we consider that the farmer gets
his -four, meal, meat, milk, butter, eggs,
fruit vegetables and fuel from the
farm, and has nothing to pay
for house rent, in addition to
this three per cent on his capital
his direct and indirect returns from his
investment will be found to be quite as
large rs those of many trsdesman
working with similar capital and hav-
ing to pay out of his profits for every
thing he needs or consumes; from rent
for the roof that covers him to the water
he drinks and the sand that scours his
kitchen utensils. Moreover, whilst many
kinds of commodities when kept on hand
will depreciate, farm under good man
arement will increase in value.
At the same county meeting Mr..
Wsters took more responding view of
the farmers condition than MIR. Piollet.
He said: "The poor farmer after years
of toll and l.-ienial will find himself
in debt" Taking his remark not in its
sympathetic but industrial sense 1t is OBJ
vious enough that the natural tendency
of poor farmer is to drift into debt. 1t
is also the tendency of q poor merchant
to drift into bankruptcy. Want of skill,
of method, forethought, industry. lavish
expenditure-sll these things make broad
and smooth the way. But where there IS
one farmer who becomes so encountered
with debt us to be beyond all hope of
extrication there are hundreds of mer-
chants aud tradesmen. Even in such
hard times us we have lately passed
through the value OF good farming
lands declined much more slowly than
that of city property. In New York re-
emily, ut the Lewis county agricultural
fl r. ex Governor Seymour and Senator
,onklng made speeches. The latter
commenced his address with the propO-
sition that our greatest profit AS nation
is and is TO be the outcome OF the soil,
and that our position as the granary Of
the world will grow stronger and
stronger as time goes on and
nations increase and countries
fill up. Governor Seymour elaborated
this, using England rs an Illustration.
He SAID: $50 to England and consider
that Great Britain is forced to consume
all the products of her soil in feeding her
own people In England they bring
crops from one country, beef from u
second, and other things from third.
Here tine beef we eat has made greater
Journeys than many of us ever hope to
make before 1t reaches us; our -four
comes from great distance. This great
country is outstripping all others in the
world IN its product"
President Hayes also, in hiss speech at
Nashville, touched upon an interesting
point in the same connection. he said
in substance that the movement OF pop
ulation westward had brought it q
length 10 the rainless region, where ag-
riculture for lack of water cannot -four
ish and that the time is now approach
ing when emigration will seek the vacant
lands of the older States. With such a
growing demand for his products, and
such prospects before him, the farmer
who educates his son to be his successor
does so with the certainty that he will
leave him q good heritage, and that,
though MS profits may be small, his
risks are small also IN comparison with
.b,z. e tho merchant and trader