The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1900-08-03
FARMING THAT PAYS.

A correspondent of THE Sun" writing
from Easton. declares that on the Eastern
Shore of Maryland farming not only can
be made but it is made to pay. Many of tie
Eastern Shore farmers, says our cores
pondent, are making money, and enough
of it to enable them to live well, to enjoy
the comforts, convenicnces and luNurics
of life, to educate their children and to
have their families enjoy society and the
summer vacation. They are not only able
to do all this, he adds, but to save some
thing each year. When Il family lives
well and spends less than its income it is
rich. In the western and northern coun-
ties the farmers have always been reason
ably prosperous. The soil in those coun-
ties is fertile and is kept fertile by careful
tillagc. In the tidewater counties on the
Western Shore, the portion of the State
which has been longest under cultivation,
there is good deal of rich bottom lands,
but large proportion of the farms are
rule. however, that the soil in every part
of the State which is not rich can be made
so.
Better methods of cultivation and the
introduction of labor saving machinery
have 50 reduced the cost Of raising wheat
that it can now be raised on good land at
profit, even at prices which are Tar be-
low those obtained a generation ago.
itoli ct raS n far n "
produces, as did the late General Mckcn-
ney, CT Queen Anne's county, hundred
thousand bushels of wheat and upward
small profit on each bushel is sufficient to
yield a good income in the aggregate.
But the small farmer who can raise only
one or two thousand bushels cannot Eve
upon the profit upon that crop at 90 to
so cents bushel. Nor is the cash profit
in his corn crop sufficient to add much to
the income The small farmer must sup
pemcnt his staple crop with other things.
He has his house rent and often his fuel
free. He must raise his own meat, poul-
try, vegetables, dairy products and have
some of all these for sale. In this manner
he can support his family and have his
crop clear If he does this he can pros
per. Southern Maryland lacks farm la
Dor, and its cheap and accessible farms Of
fer attractive homes for men with small
capital who are content to do their own
| work, with little assistance from hired
| help. There are many farms in this State
| which can be bought for less than est OF
the houses upon them.
Farming holds out inducements to the
| large capitalist, to the man of moderate
means, as well as to the poor man who
has brains and health and strength and
| industry. General Mckinney, who had
| over million dollars invested in farm
| lands, used to say that it was the best way
to invest money. The principal was not
only safe, but could be increased all the
time by improving the lands and buildings
and that the cultivation of wheat and
corn, even at the lowest prices for years
yielded him from to 5 per cent. on the
investment, a larger interest, he added,
than could he gotten from any other in
vestment equally safe.
| The mistake many Maryland farmers
make is in undertaking the cultivation
of more land than they can cultivate prop
erly with the means at their command. 1t
is difficult to make slovenly farming any
more profitable than slovenly bookkeeping
or slovenly methods in any other business.
In the present state of the market it does
not pay to raise Indifferent tobacco, but it
does pay to raise good tobacco. 1t does
not pay to raise Is bushels of wheat TO the
acre but it pays to raise so. While the
price of corn or hay may be low if sold as
such, it is good if sold as beef, pork, poul-
| try or butter. With beef selling at retail
for IL to 20 cents pound and butter at %
cents and upward there should be 4 good
profit to the producer. And the producer
not only gets good prices for his crops, but
be retains the bulk of them on the land in
the shape of manure. In the Western
States and in parts of Virginia farmers get
rich raising cattle. There is no reason why
Maryland, which is so near the market,
| should not be great stock-raising State.
There is too little attention paid to it or to
getting lands set in grass.-Baltimore Sun.