Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1882-10-25
SpeciaIties In Farming.

In the 3" good old times IarmerS larmeu
for living, mostly got from the farm.
Food and clothing, and the pay OF hired
help, came from the farm itself. The
amount of produce sold for cash was very
small in most cases, some wool, some bark,
some hides, some meat, little butter in
the village, load or two of potatoes, a
barrel of cider or a few apples, some socks
and mittens, were the marketable products
Occasionally few sheep, a COW or two,
yoke of oxen, or horse was sold, but for
long time and all sorts Of pay but cash was
the rule. Well, If the farmers farmed for
a living then, they got it, provided they
were sober and industrious, and what more
can they do now? Is farming any more
profitable than it used to be,,in those good
old times
In many cases it is not. In some it is
less so. When the times change, men must
change with them. If they do not, if they
are "out of gear" with things as they are,
or as they become as the world moves on,
the way forward becomes more and more
difficult, and the rewards of work must be-
come smaller and smaller. The farmers are
the most conservative of all classes, because
they are not in close contact with the events
that stir and change the world of men active
in other avocations. The farmer who is no
reader must fall behind in the race of life,
and as yet there are many to whom books,
or even newspapers, bring no new life, or
any enjoyment. Farmers of this type are
really worse off than their predecessors.
The wants of their families for all the new
products of human ingenuity have greatly
increased, but the means of supplying those
wants have not grown in proportion The
result is debt and Encouragement, and the
reiterated declaration that farming don't
pay" If his neighbor, up with the times,
is successful, it is merely luck, and the CON-
plant arises that his dish is never right side
up when it rains.
In plain language (and farmers should
desire only such) this is all folly. Means
rightly adapted to ends are as effective now
as they ever were. A man, farmer or any
other if he does not succeed, should search
himself severely to find out the reason. 1t
is there he will find it quite often, if not al
ways In farming the chiefest cause of
small success or large failure is to be seen
aside from bad personal habits) in the
farmers not being "suited to his environ
ment," in plain terms, in his not being
"posted,' or up with the times If he has
abandoned the old ways without learning
the new, he is a pitiable case, but neither
God, nor nature, nor the neighbors are to
blame.
Farming, nowadays, must bring money,
and good deal of it, to be satisfactory. A
jack at all trades and master of none makes
but little. Yet that is what great many
farmers are, and nothing less. They do a
title of forty different things, and have a
little of as many products to sell and mostly
Of inferior quality while of what is good
in its kind he has too little to attract a cash
buyer at good price. When farmers are
told that it is easier to sell one thousand
bushels of apples of one kind than to sell
two bushels of all kinds, that it is easier to
sell two hundred pounds Of butter week
than to sell five pounds, and the price better
for the same article it is hard for the old
fashioned farmer to keep from laughing, or
calling him who says so fool. Yet moth
ing can be truer than facts like these. And
what is the lesson they teach No other
lesson, brother farmers, than that we must
not be jacks of all trades on the farm. If a
farmer would succeed he must find out and
understand what his farm will grow best
how it can best be made use of to profit
what the markets he must sell in demand
and what of all he can produce will bring
him the most money at the least money
cost. He must so order his farming that
there shall be as wide margin of profit on
what he can produce for sale as possible
And this he can do only by devoting him
self to the production of few things for
sale, and then endeavoring with all his
strength to produce as much as possible, of
as high quality as possible, and as cheaply
as possible.
Here is where brains come in upon the
farm as a powerful factor of success. All
these points are matters of study, of careful
plans thoughtfully worked out, of knowl-
edge gained by seeking for it where it can
be found. Success in farming never comes
by chance, and it always comes slowly. But
nothing is surer than that intelligent, wide
awake, energetic farming, pays better in
the long run and on the average than any
other staple and standard employment.
This spirit must go into our farming. 1t
has already done so in some degree, but it
must be extended and intensified. The
French have proverb that "nothing sue
ceeds like success" Get the ball fairly
started, and it seems to roll forward almost
of itself. The neglected industries of our
farms should take example from successes
already achieved, even while the croakers
were prophesying failure. Orchsrding was
overdone," according TO the croakers, long
ago. Now everybody who has good orch
ard wishes that it were twice or four times
as big as it is. The same may be made
true of every other branch of our farming.
But it cannot be made true upon farms
where worn-out ways are the only ways.
just 30 far as our farming is intelligently
specialized will the various branches of II
be pushed to the front and become largely
profitable. Choose what branch you will, or
your circumstances demand, but, when
chosen, push it " for all it is worth" When
this is done generally, or largely, ours will
be found too good state TO emigrate from.
And now, the thousands of farmers who are
thinking some other place is better than
this, if they will 60 TO work systematically,
can find that there are "chances" here as