San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1879-03-01
Large on Small Farms.


in commercial asssmblage, of the relu-
tive proiitablcncss Of small or large
store; or, among manufacturers, of the
comparative advantages of factory on
large or small scale. There can he no
doubt that men have accumulated con-
siderable wealth from II small CONNER
cial business, or by manufacturing in
dustry conducted on a moderate scale
and also by the tillage of small areas of
land. Industry and economy, conjoin-
ed with business capacity and q good
acquaintance with the work in hand,
will in time usually secure competen-
cy in any avocation. BY slowly laying
dollar to dollar, with shrewd invest
ment of profits, man can make himself
Independent, and even rich, doing but
o very moderate business oil the time.
For the majority of mankind this is
the safest, and indeed the only practi-
cable method. Out of thousand men
but very few have the natural capacity,
or the acquired ability, to conduct any
business successfully on large scale.
Napoleon declared that there were only
two men in Europe who could handle
an army of one hundred thousand men.
A similar rule applies to every branch
of human endeavor. And one Of the
chief elements of success is to know
ones self sufficiently well not to under
take more than can be successfully car
ried out. This applies as well to farm
ing rs to every other business.
But farming has never yet beena le-
gitimate business in America. Land
has been too abundant for that, as well
as too rich with the accumulated fertili-
ty of ages. So far, we may say that
there has been but little real farming
done on this whole continent. When
it comes to true farming-and it is now
beginning to come to that in the older
states-it will be necessary that man
calling himself farmer should know
something about his business, and be,
to that extent, business man.
As business man his capacity for
business will regulate the amount of
business he will be competent to do
That, and the amount of capital he can
control, will settle his status, whether
as large or small farmer. And as
farming is more and more conducted
ON business principles, the business OF
farming will divide itself into different
classes. It will then become like other
businesses, and as in trade there is O
place for the large merchant and the
small tradesman, so in farming there
will be large and small farms, and all
profitable in proportion to the capital
and labor intelligently expended upon
them for the production of salable crops
When agricultural business is thus
organized, it will be found, in many
cases, that the area of land under tillage
will not so much determine the profits
as the amount Of labor, capital and skill
laid out in order to force the soil to its
highest productive capacity. This, uni
ted with knowledge of the kinds of crops
that are most suited to the market, an
ability to forecast probable demanttand
prices, and o shrewdness in taking adj
vantage of sudden turns of the market,
will be the prime factors of success or
failure.
Near large cities, OF in places where
prompt and ready transportation to
large markets is obtainable, it may hap
pen that large force of men can be
proftably employed on few acres, the
sales of products running up to tens of
thousands of dollars annually. In this
way large business can be done .on a
small farm. 1t is now so done in many
instances, and fortunes are acquired by
skillful men from the tillage of five and
ten acre farms. As competition be-
comes closer and closer, only very skill
full men, with large cash capital, can
run even such little" farms successful
ly. But as yet there are many oppor-
tunities for intelligent young men of
small means to grow up into such a
business-more opportunities. We should
say, than there are men able and willing
to take advantage of them.
sill rar4..,g . 5---f,