The daily intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Territory [i.e. Wash.]) 1876-1881, 1878-05-18
THE WEEKLY GSTcI.LIGEsCER
Official Press Of King County.
Saturday, May 1s, 1878.
TOO MUCH LAND.

II is a common business axiom that
he who has too many irons in the fire
is pretty certain to get some of them
burned. Nothing pays so we'll as con-
centrated energy. A little we'll done
is better than ever 50 much half done.
Success generally comes from the pur-
suance Of the so-called idle policy.
From following theoretically and at
tentively ole particular branch OF
business or industry to the exclusion
of all others. 1t is better to secure
thoroughly the bird already in hand
than to reach out ambitiously after
those still in the bush at the risk of
losing all.
Success with the farmer, as with the
business man. is based upon these con-
ditions. He is successful in the degree
that he devotes his attention to his pur.
suit. and pushes ahead on the one-ides
policy. His success does not depend
upon the amount of land he owns, but
upon the theroughness with which he
cultivates what he has. The little farm
we'll titled is the farm that pays best.
There is more profit in raising forty
bushels of grain from one acre, well
cultivated, than in tilling three for
the same amount. The avsricious old
hen, in the story, which exerted herself
to cover one hundred. eggs at sitting.
has become proverbial. Yet how many
farmers In their effort to bestride sew
eral hundred acres of untitled land to
the expense of what they have already
subdued. appear like this old hen Gas
the story goes actuated only by an
ambition to spread herself
This is where our farmers and the
settlers on our agricultural lands make
their great mistake Instead of set
Ting down and being content with
their original acqulsition-the 100 acres
which they pro-empt or homestead, or
tho lesser number which they secure by
their first purchase-they no sooner get
under way than they become seized
with an inordinate desire to stretch
their title over oil the land in sight. In
gratifying this unhealthy ambition they
neglect the cultivation of the land
already in their possession. and after
years of hard toll and deprivation, find
that they have liltle'or nothing to show
for their labor.
A man secures given number OF
acres of land. sufficient i'm amount to
make a good farm. or. as in the case of
or pre.emptors. more
than he can even cultivate. and as soon
as this produces Q few hundred dollars
over and above the amount which he
consumes for his actual subsistence, IN
stead of expanding it in improving that
already in his possession, he expends 1t
in purchasing more wild land. and so
continues to do. In many cases he
borrows money or mortgages his land
for the same purpose, and struggles on
Tor years, like the man who was always
for dead horse.
Most farmers appear to be led
away by the idea that this land 10 to
b ,come valuable Of its own accord, and
that the only way for them to gain a
is to acquire land. Now
what makes land valuable In some
avored localities land receives q specu-
1ative value; but rs general thing the
real value attached to land is created
by labor. Every improvement . set.
tier makes upon his claim 10 so much
added to its value; it is not 80 much the
quantity as the quality of his land that
makes it. valuable. II he can claim
'ixty acres of land in such . state Of
rs to make il worth one
hundred dollars an acre, he is better off
than the man who owns two hundred
acres worth but twenty-five dollars per
acre. The intrinsic value of any of our
land is not more than the Government
price, $l,25 FER acre. If given guam
tity becomes moro valuable than this,
that value is created upon il Ivy labor.
or by labor expended upon other lands
near.
We know of farmer not many miles
away. who has !. 800 acres of land. aud
could not sell his land to day for as
much rs certain so called small far
mer near by, who adheres to the policy
Of little farm we'll titled" 4 man
from one of the Eastern States pur.
chased eight acres of land of . farmer
in this county few years ago. and last
year realized eighteen hundred
dollars from this piece of land.
clear of ell expenses. his own included.
His profits were many hundred-fold
greater than those of the man from
whom he purchased, and who is one of
the large farmers.