The Portland daily press., 1880-10-19
Western Rural.


While the percentage Of the profit Oh the
investment in farming enterprises is notor-
ously small, it is nevertheless. taking into
consideration the comparative certainty and
sfnall>degree of risk. very satisfactory as
compared with other kinds of business.
Il man OF industry and good.
sound Judgment, under favorable circum-
stances, will make himself a comfortable
nome and accumulate competence Oh Il
farm. His dustry will cause she acres TO
bud AID blossom, AID his judgment will
keep him out OF risky side enterprises and
from getting head over heels in debt. The
curse of any man or auy business is debt.
and outside speculations usually lead a
farmer into it. AS rule, it is best to stick
10 one bust ess. With few exceptions the
man who gets too many irons in the fire
will get some of the irons burned, aud will
lie very lucky II he does not get some of his
fingers badly scorched. So almost uniyer-
sal is the operation of this rule that the
world is accustomed TO wait patiently the
dos nfall of any mar Of two or three kinds
of business o hand, a d if such man gets
through all right, instead Of getting credit
for bel legitimate exception, he is
turU ed off with single exclamation, what
lucky fellow" Successful farming re-
quires all the force a9d ingenuity of che
brain. Slipshod farming will conduct it.
self, but lot SO good farming. Anybody
ca PLAN and SOW, and anybody can gather
what grows. But not every body car do
either as it ought to be doe Farmi o is
complicated science-the grand aggregate of
all sciences-and it requires hard study a d
close application.
4 tertaiDing the now pretty ge orally ex-
ploded idea that anybody can farm
or that the farm will take care of
Sol fnn h. -. 4
on the farm and devote the most or, to be
reasonable in expressiop, a part of his time
to other callings. l. ninety-nine cases out
of hundred, disaster has resulted and both
farm and outside business have been
smashed; and 10 view of what the past has
shown in this particular, the best advice
that can be given is to stick to the farm if
you hove one. or to let the farm alrne if YOU
are determined to enter upon or coutinue in
some other business.
The risks in farming, as already stated,
are comparatively few. There is 10 danger
OF ruin arisii from compe titiop; there is
none arising from the treachery of business
associates The farm, III der Ordinary cir
cumstances, is sure to fur ish e. ough to
make the family comfortable, aud extraordi-
nary circumstances, which are of providen-
tial character always, are OF very apt to
exist. The farmer is engaged IL the produc-
ton Of articles which the public must have.
1t makes no difference what else the people
do without, they must have bread. They
ca wear old clothes, but they must have
new flour, and while a depression of the
times may limit the demand it cam ct Who'll
ly destroy it. Thus is the farmer ef gagged
In bushes which is always active. If
other kinds of business are flourish, g, agri-
culture must be on the very topmost rou, d
If other kirds of bushes are depressed. ag-
riculture must still be on round little
above any other business.
In mercantile, or purely speculative bust
less, there is no certainty of safety for
week, and scarcely for a. hour, Fl ancial
panics may come and swallow mp values u
til the merchant is rui ed and the specula-
tor stranded; competition may bankrupt
one, ten, or scores of merchants. A. T.
Stewart. with his immense fortune, could at
auy time rui. house that was carving
large Ii of goods. But A. T. Stewart
With all his millions could never have ruined
farmer who owr ed a nice farm and was
out of debt. With couple of weeks a
prominent member of the Chicago board of
trade has gone to pieces. Every one was
surprised. There was nothing in his failure
to cause surorise: it's surprise that more
do not 60. But if aews would come that
farmer who had for years been entirely free
from debt, and had been raising good crops
all the time had goe into bankruptcy, it
would astonsh every one, except that they
would account for il o. the grounds of out
side speculation. Farming is a pretty sure
business and if it ca be relieved of some of
the un just burdens that are pressing down
upon ii, the farmer can afford to be content