The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1889-03-06
"The Independent Farmer.v

pendent farmer" or something of the
same import, showing that many think,
or at least say, that there is some
peculiar, indestructible independence
about farming operations, and conse-
quently about farmers, which does not
form part of other occupations, and
which is only enjoyed by farmers. l
have met the idea in agricultural print,
have heard it often spoken by farmers
themselves and by farming people:
GA farmer is independent" GA
farmer has something growing when he
is asleep" "The farmer is safe any
way" Such expressions are as COM
mon as the names of potatoes. / have
never found a person, however, who
could really tell in what this accepted
independence consisted even farmers
have been unable to tell, when ques-
toned, wherein their great strength
independence lieth. | propose hunt
ing a little for this independence, in
which so many believe-and, believing,
apparently take comfort. Let us begin
with that ever-convenient subject, the
weather. If there are any toilers more
at the mercy of wind and tempest,
snow, rain and ice, frost and sunshine,
than the farmer, it must be" those who
90 down to the sea in ships" A long
time ago old Jacob said: Thus was;
in the day the drouth consumed me,
and the frost by night, and my sleep de-
parted from mine eyes" How large a
capital do you think an Insurance
company would have to have if it
should attempt, for business, the insur-
auce of Vermont farmers against dam
age by frost during four months of the
summer? Let the four months be
June, July, August and September, and
any one who has known the uncertainty
and the ever present possibility of
frosts during these four growing
months could form some idea of
the value and probable cost of such
an insurance. Who will start such
an insurance? Who will print an
almanac whc will truly tell the local
weather for even one day ahead and
sell it for its weight in diamonds, or
anything else that might be demanded?
The farmers best-laid plans are often
failures because he does not know
what the weather is going to be. When
start has been made on some line of
work for the day, or for the season, it
is impossible to pursue some other
course when the weather changes
without loss of time and strength and
diminished results. The farmers brain
must be ever trying to obey the changed
points of the weather. The weather is
his master. Some think, or seem to,
that farming is the most healthy of all
occupations. | doubt it very much.
In the army, the boys from the farm died
like sheep in the trenches and hos
pitfalls. while the pale-faced city clerks
and mechanics passed comparatively
unframed. All have wondered at the
bravery of George Washington when
the bullets of the enemy were flying
around him; all have thought how
wonderfully God preserved him. And
yet he was exposed to more danger
when quietly trimming his fruit-trees
at Mt Vernon. The British and In
dian bullets did not hit their mark; the
silent shafts of the weather did. Farm
ers die like this all about us, yet no one
lays it to heart. as regards hired help,
l think the farmer is more dependent
than most of those who hire. AS matter
of fact, he must hire what he can get,
and he must take them into his home
and family. This is subject on which
much has been written. Some say the
farmer is the one to blame. / do not
know. But as long as the ignorant
and careless can get good wages on
farm | can see no chance for i'm.
provement Girls will not work
away from "the village" but what
ever a farmers hired help in the
future he must have this disadvan-
tage to a great extent-he must take
them into his home. The old saying
that good neighbors make good neigh
bors has very much of truth in it, But
a farmer is seized of his neighbors as
well as of his land. He can not ignore
them. They will affect his happiness
and prosperity, and the future of those
dear to him, more than the quality of
the soil he tills. A farmer is planted.
The work of fighting wild creatures,
potato-bugs, ETC., is done almost en-
tirely by farmers. The yearly loss
from these is enormous and always
veXatious. There is a certain subtitle
and all-pervading feeling that farmers
are a sort of whey-drinkers and that
they must not have anything better.
Again, they are advised dd Rbitlm by
any one, and the changes are rung:
Farmers wives,n farmers daugh-
ters," etc. A farmer must pay fully
his share of taxes, direct and in
direct, as a matter of fact l think he
pays much more than his just proper
tion. The farmer is sensibly affected
by every public act of man, big or little
His property is virtually mortgaged to
pay or make up for every appropriation
and blunder. 1t is often the worst kind of
a mortgage. l know of town in Yer
mont where the farms are not worth
fifty per cent of their mortgaged value.
Every one knows of such towns. Empty
handed recklessness can steal the value
from the old homestead deeds. have
only touched upon few things that
affect the farmers condition and pros
poets. / do not write to disparage
farming. / love it. Still, can not see
why farmer is any more independent
than if he pursued any other honest,
legitimate vocation. Can you?
A VERMONTER.