Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1879-11-07
AGRICULTURAL.
EASTERN AND WESTERN FARMING.

much consequence. There are of cour,
exceptions TO this rs to all general rule
but l refer to the prevalent systems
farming. / do not say that this plan
exhaustive cropping, with little or no II
gard to fertility, is right or best but it
at least better adapted to the West tha
here. If an Eastern farmer can farm onl
on this system, undoubtedly the be:
/, thing for him to do is to quit the bushes
and go at something else The next bes
is to sell out here, take Horace Greeley
advice and ''go West" Thousands {
such men have gone West, and it is pei
haps safe to say that large proportion
perhaps a majority-of Eastern men VIII
! hare gone West as farmers, were more q
less failures here This rule also ha
numerous exceptions, especially amon
the young men who have their fortunes t
make, and 10 whom high-priced Easter
lands offer no attractions, because the,
have not capital TO buy and work then
properly. When an Eastern farmer has
good homestead paid for. and with com
Portable buildings, he almost invariabl,
makes n mistake in selling out and goinI
to the West. He understands Eastern
modes of farming i; those of the West h,
does not understand, and while he is learn
ing he will be quite sure TO lose a consid
cradle part of his capital 1t may be tina
Western methods i'll the exclusive wheat
growing States are not the best Whea
after wheat. until in some States the cror
has run down to less than ten bushels pei
acre, cannot be profitable. What appa,
rent profit Is made Is lost in the decreased
value and productiveness of the land
But this policy may be, or at least seem,
a necessity. and therefore not to be avoid
ed. Some Eastern men who have gone
| West with the idea that they would follow
Eastern methods, have come to grief.
They have perhaps improved their land,
out they have lost money while doing
| this and where land can be had at very
low rates, improving the soil does not
make much difference. A farm where the
fertility has been retained has vet to he
sold i'll competition with virgin sol, which
is at least as rich. All the improved land
can claim is the fences and buildings, and
these, when farm has to be sold. will
rarely pay cost. In many places the farm
itself will not sell for much if any more
| than the cost of buildings and improve
AIthtS 'ul upOH IL. III T.lsltTl ldTlllllB,
if farmers will make improvements Judi
ciously. they can make such improve
ments bring satisfactory return. The
past few years have been worse for farm
ers East and West than were ever before
known, yet even during these barren wears,
some farmers have made and saved mon
ey. They have bought partly run down
farms, have underdrained and reclaimed
waste places, made barren spots produc-
tive, and now their farms are worth much
more than what they cost, and are in
creaslng IN productiveness yearly. 1t is
true these men had capital, but in the way
they have used it, they have made this
capital pay good interest by investing ii
III their farms. l doubt whether this
would be possible where land is so cheap
as 1t is IN some portions of the West
There is such thing as having good land
too cheap to pay for good farming. This
Is and has been one trouble with the
West. Cheap land impels. if it does not
compel, farmers to make their profits by
exhaustive cropping. Even where stock
growing is practiced, the improvement of
the land is minor consideration, if in
deed it is considered at all. This rule
does not apply to those parts of the West
where Improvement of the land has be-
gun. The tillers of the soil are properly
classed as Eastern farmers. There are
many such in Ohio and Illinois.
In the East no man can farm long sue
cessfully without making the increased
productiveness of his land leading con-
slderation. Men occasionally make pro-
lit on particular crops, but never enough
to bring profitable return for the whole
farm, unless the farm is yearly growing
better. In the West, the crop on the land
is often worth more than the land itself.
Here 1t rarely or never is so. In proper
ton as the value of the land is greater
than that of the crop, is the necessity for
making the former the leading considera-
ton. All the time, with most of our
crops, Eastern farmers have had to COM
pete with men who apparently cared
nothing for increasing the productiveness
of their soil. 1t has only been possible
to do this by SO much better farming us to
be able to produce our crops rs cheaply
as Western farmers can. When we can
do this, as some farmers have learned to
do, the question is settled forever When
we begin improving land, and find the i'm
provements paying good return on the
there is no end to the extent
to which this plan may be carried East
ern lands are not likely ever to be cheaper
than now. On some, the running down
process has not yet been arrested, and
such may be lower-priced, though really
dearer. A badly rundown farm is not II
good one to buy, unless it can be bought
at great sacrifice The'good farmer will
prefer to buy, at higher price, land
which is already in condition for cropping,
and where the improvements needed will
pay the largest returns on the money in
vested in making them. 1t is also gene
rally true that the higher-priced the land
itself is, the better profit it will pay for
making IT productive.
There are undoubtedly thousands of
farmers IN Eastern States badly in debt
and steadily losing money 1t is not al
ways true that these men are not indus
trlous farmers and even good managers.
Lack Of capital to work with will cripple
any man. The successful farmers are
those who have the capital to do whatever
they please, and use it SO as to make it
pay. The fact that it does pay seven per
cent. and often more, shows that the
trouble with much of our improbable
farming lies in attempting more than ran
be accomplished. Anything half done is
failure, while perhaps if it
could be done thoroughly and in season,
it would he success. The best thing that
farmers who are badly in debt cando is to
sell enough Of their land to free them
from debt, and give them fair working
capital for the remainder The working
capital may be borrowed if the farmer is
young, industrious and courageous and
can get long time for its repayment
Car. country Gehticman.