Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1877-05-30
Is Our Agriculture Declining?

farming pay parsllnOnlOus liver once
asked a clergyman who was dining with him
whether it would be lawful to baptize in
soup. The priest replied, L" If you ask me
in general whether it be lawful to baptize
in soup, must answer no but if you wish
to know whether think it would be law
full to baptize in your soup, ! say yes"
Some farming pays; some farming does
not pay. Anybody can make farming pay
on rich land fora while The band of specu-
lators who have recently secured ten thou
sand acres of rich virgin wheat land in the
Red River Valley, Dakota, aud with album
dant capital are putting it all in cultva-
ton, do so with the deliberate intention of
skinning the soil, and unless some mercifu
interpostion of Providence prevents, they
will gain fortune from the land and leave
it desert. The intention of these men is
"wilful MURDER" for they know what they
are about. But the whole farming of this
continent, with limited exceptions, has been
of this character from its first settlement
not purposely, but from the ignorance or
poverty of the cultivators.
1t is not those who thus skim the cream
from naturally rich soil who complain
that farming does not pay. 1t is those
who come after them, and do not know how
or have not the means to restore the lost
productiveness of the land. For farming to
profit on partially exhausted land, requires
both GnpuloIra apl oa,,ita1 50,
dustry. There is not one of our farmers in
five hundred that can take an average New
England farm, run in debt for half the
price, and make the farm pay the rest. Du-
ring the war, with the high prices and brisk
demand for all kinds of products, it was
often done, but it will never be done again
under the present state of the country.
A recent writer in the Pioughman is
type of the "scrub farmer" and his opinions
on this subject. For that reason we repro
duce his letter, as follows:
Having seen from time to time in the Piough-
man, the question asked, Does Farming in New
England PayY and as often answered in the affirm
alive, allow me- sir, to suggest way for those
who are DESTROYS of knowing, whereby they may
find out, namely: take Il trip through some of the
farming sections and see the buildings going to
decay, the stone walls tumblng down. (which by
the way would cost more now to build than the
farms would sell for), the pastures growing up to
bushes, and everything else pertaining to the farm
going in the same direction, and think, sir, they
would have to draw the inference that farming
does not pay, or that the owners do not under
stand their business; the latter, think is usually
the suppositon. Now sir, If man that was
born on a farm, and has always made farming
his business, does not understand how to farm
who does? And If there is 80 much pleasure and
profit in farming as some writer's tell for why is
it that farms can be bought for what the build
ings would cost, or less, and the land thrown in?
Now, will venture to say that not one man in
ten that has so much to say in the papers about
the pleasures and profits of farming, does days
work in the field in year; and let them under
take to get living off OF u farm, and they would
have less to say about farming
Observe that this writer takes it for granted
that a man born on a farm and always
making farming business must necessarily
know how to farm. But he probably would
not accept that doctrine as being true OF
doctors, ministers, merchants or mechanics
He would know from common observation
that there are many incompetents in these
avocations. Yet usually they have better
training to their business than the ordinary
farmer, brought up on the farm" The
pioneer farmers, who had virgin soil to
till, We're not the right men to teach their
successors how to make money on WORKOUT
land Most of them could barely make
living on land enriched for them by the boun-
teous hand of Providence through long ages
Let us illustrate this subject farther by
facts from the agricultural history of one of
the richest counties in the rich state of Ohio
An able writer in the Country Gentleman, a
lifelong farmer, and thoroughly acquainted
with the district of which he writes, as well as
with the whole state, says of Geauga county:
From the first settlement, about sixty years
ago it was discovered that the region was specially
suited for stock farming and dairy products. For
time considerable grain was raised and beef
cattle were reared and driven to Eastern markets
For the past twenty or thirty years cheese-making
has been the leading interest of the farmers, and
for ten or fifteen years the sale of milk or cheese
has been almost their only source of income
Three or four years ago there were no less than
sixty cheese factories in operation in the county
few of which have been discontinued, but there
are still more than fifty, When the lands were
first cleared of the forests, pasture grasses juno
or blue grass red top and white clover grew sponta
npouslv linz
unless to save "a little time. Several old farmers
told me that when the pastures were new and up +,
twenty or thirty years ago, a farm of one hundred
acres would readily supply pasturage and hay
for twenty-five cows, besides the necessary grain
etc, for home use but now the average capacity
of the farms that have no valley lands is not over
ten or twelve cows TO the one hundred acres, or
one-half the former productiveness, and this re-
quires more labor than formerly. The population
of the county has declined as well as the quality
of the soil The census tables show that in 1850
the number of inhabitants was seventeen thou
sand eight hundred and twenty-seven; in 1860 II
was fifteen thousand eight hundred and seventeen
and in 1870 only fourteen thousand one hundred
and ninety. Ten years ago the number of cattle
in Geauga county was twenty five thousand eight
hundred and four, In 1870 it was twenty-five
thousand eight hundred and eighty-one and of
that number fifteen thousand six hundred and
twenty-one were mich cows, and the rest steer
and young cattle. In 1876 the whole number OF
cattle, according to the assessors returns was
only fourteen thousand one hundred and ninety
"a decline, ii would seem, of eleven thousand six
hundred and ninety-one or nearly one-half, in six
years. On this point, however, 1t should be OBJ
served that the number Of cows in the count,
varies considerably in consequence of dry seasons
occasionally cutting short the supply of feed so
that large numbers are sold of in the fall. The
amount of cheese manu- featured in the county
annually also varies from the same cause, but
still has fallen off considerably. In 1866 il was
five million one hundred and twelve thousand five
hundred and thirty-seyeD pounds In 1870 the
amount was reduced TO four million nine hundred
and fifty-nne thousand seven hundred and ninety
three pounds. In 1876 the county reported four
million one hundred and thirty-six thousand two
hundred and tbirty-one pounds"
This writer On. b. Bateham, formerly edi.
tor of the Ohio Farmer, says further;
81 am not quite willing to believe that what |
saw there Is fair representation OF the condition
OF things generally in the dairy districts Of Ohio or
that other sections Of the state and other kinds of
farming will, on examination, present such dis
couraging features. ! am convinced, however,
that when the facts are made known they will