Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1896-11-10
SMALL FARMS OR LARGE.

SMALL fAhMa On lRh6e.
To the inquiry now before me reply,
do not buy large farm until you have
had experience with small one. Do
not put all your money into land, but
keep good share for working capital
and TO fall back upon in case of failure
or disappointment. Above all things,
do not contract debt without reason
able certainty Of being able TO speedily
wipe 1t out. Buying farm or any
other property aud paying for 1t two or
more times over in interest and princi-
pal, is enough TO dishearten any but the
most courageous of hopeful beings.
Do not plan to employ much help
until YOU have learned TO use your own
abilities successfully. Blind men are
never a success As leaders OF the blind.
VILLAGE VS. ISOLATION.
IL one has spent many years among
the luxuries Of modern village life,
would not advise going far into will
derness Of woods, prairie or abandoned
district for home. Some may be so
constituted as To endure Ii, but not
many are. | know of farmer with
wife, son aud daughter, whose home Is
near the boundary line between Maine
and New Hampshire, and whose near
est post office is seventy miles away.
He raises hay and other supplies for the
lumbermen, and their photos, ss taken
by travelling "vacationer," indicate
fairly contented life. But do not be-
lieve this is the best place for bringing
up children, though each winter one or
both are sent TO Quebec TO school.
My own farming has ever been on
comparatively few acres, and as | see
more aud more of farm life, and OF the
possibilities OF small areas well cult
waited, | am more and more In favor OF
small holdings. Five acres OF fairly
good land, II we'll managed, will easily
keep two cows and horse, couple
Of pigs and a generous flock Of poultry.
II an acre be taken for fowls, the same
can be- used for fruit trees, apples,
pears, plums, peaches and qainces, and
IL divided into two parts. one-half could
be used alternate years, while the trees
were young, for vegetables or small
fruits.
Five acres will keep one man fully
employed all through the summer, and
when the trees come into bearing and
the land Is brought up 10 n high stste OF
productiveness, the sales and net In
come should be greater than the ma
iority of average farmers get from their
fifty or one hundred acre farms. The
trouble with the latter is, that OF the
fifty or one hundred acres, not more
than five or ten are half cultivated.
PAPER PROFITS.
IL is very easy figuring (on paper the
profits on a hundred hens, twenty cows,
a thousand fruit trees, and so on. a
few wears Sgo many northern men fig
ured the profits Of orange culture In
Florida. aud others did the same with
Cape Cod cranberry bogs. But before
the planted trees bore crop the un-
timely freeze killed them 20 the ground,
and now the low price OF cranberrics,
due In part 10 the development OF the
canned fruit industry, and more, per-
haps, 10 improved methods OF trans
porting perishable foods, has wiped out
the principal invested in hundreds of
scres OF bog before any dividend could
bee declared.
Most large commercial ventures are
attended with much risk. Buying a
large farm by an inexperienced me-
chsuic certainly Is, but purchasing a
small country place for home by one
who has been thrifty and saving, and
who makes good home, surrounded
by few acres worked for family sup
port, the main consideration in the
change should not be very risky ven
ture, especially by one who keeps back
at least half his savings 10 fall back on
in case OF sickness, bad seasons or other
unforeseen difficulties or drawbacks.
| wish those who have gone upon small
places under conditions more or less
like those Of our enquirer, would give
some Of their experience through these
columns. IL would be very interesting
reading for many readers who are not
now on farms, but who hope TO be at
some future ,ime.-A. ". CHEEyER, In |
New England Farmer.