Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1880-06-04
AGRICULTURAL.
correspondence Country Gentleman.l

THE OUTLOOK FOR AGRICULTURE.
1t is hardly probable that 1880 will b'
as favorable for farmers or for other busi
ness interests as was 1879. The genera
feeling is, however. much more hopefu
than year ago. The year 1879 followed
a series of years when all industries were
depressed There was a steady depre-
citation of prices from 1872 till 1873
which made it nearly impossible to pro
duce except at loss. When prices are
going down. the cost of production nee.
essarily exceeds the selling price of the
article produced. In 1879, with the re-
sumption of specie payments, our cur
rency WAS on the hard-pan basis, and
prices of almost everything were rather
below than above their true level. The
business boom of the last twelve months
has been the natural rebound from the
depression The extraordinary harvest
of last year has prevented most farm pro-
ducts from advancing as largely rs other
articles. True, there is an extraordinary
foreign demand, but except in dairy pro-
ducts the supply has kept pace with it.
Butter and cheese are up in full proper
ton to everything else, but wheat and
other grains and all stock, excepting
sheep are not
The fact that grain prices are somewhat
higher than year ago, encourages farm
ers but potatoes are lower than usual,
and even corn and wheat are cheaper than
the average before the war. Prices of
tools, of clothing Of everything that the
farmer uses, are higher than year ago,
and proportionately higher than most
that farmers have to sell. Labor also is
likely to be dearer-properly enough II
compared with the advance III clothing
and other expenses of the laborer, but
leaving little or nothing to the farmer
who hires labor. just at present, other
kinds Of business are fixing the wages of
labor and making it dearcr than farmers
can afford to paw At best, farming pro-
fits are small; but unless We have sec
ond failure of crops i'll Europe, it Is i'm
probable that the demand which has
helped to dispose of our own surplus will
continue. and if that falls oil, farm pro-
ducts must sell lower, unless our own
haryests should fail. In other words. the
agricultural resources of this country
are 50 great that there is likely to be Il
glut of farm products sooner than of any
thing else. Necessarily. when farmers
cease to make money. other classes Of
business must soon suffer also.
European countries, especially Eng
land, are suffering from harder times than
our people have ever experienced. Tins ,
must inevitably react against our own
prosperity The almost entire failure of |
crops in England in 1879 has temporarily |
and apparently helped us. 1t has com
PEELED the English to buy more of our
grain, meat and dairy products than they |
would otherwise have done, and to pay
higher prices No nation really gains in
the long run 10y the adversely of another. |
We do not grow rich by others growing
poor Because England has had 4 bad
harvest, and English farmers have lost,
as is estimated, four hundred millions OF
dollars, the English people will feel poor
for a long time. They will goto econom-
izing, and for years to come will work .
harder, produce more and buy less than !
heretofore do not think the English
market will fail u.s. Probably in meats |
and dairy products it will be better than |
it has been. Our products of this class |
are only beginning to find market there,
our beef and mutton. The ex-
cellence of our meats. and the compara-
tive cheapness at which they can be sold,
as compared with those grown i'll England,
will insure our market, and probably in
crease it. But it will not be as good as il
would have been if England had been
uniformly prosperous. What necessity
has forced the English people to buy
abroad more than they naturally would,
will be made good by smaller purchases
hereafter. In few years the losses of
English farmers the past season will be
divided up among all the countries with
which England trades. So Intimately are
nations bound together by ties of COM
merce, that the gains and losses of one
must in the end be shared by all Others
But while not anticipating a year of
unusual prosperity, there is satisfaction
in the reflection that American farmers
need never suffer want. In the hardest
times hoZe and shelter, food and raiment
are theirs Seed time and harvest do not
fail, and if not lured away by outside en-
the small profits Of the
great mass Of farmers constitute a sure
basis, not only for their OWN prosperity,
but for that of the country and the
vorlI