Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1907-04-23

A good deal is said about the oppor-
tunities offered to young man by the
west. There are opportunities here
splendid ones, too-but l believe it
would be well for the young farmer OF
the east to look around him carefully
for neglected ones at home before going
fifteen hundred miles away from home
into a new and different environment.
Success comes here, as elsewhere, to the
man who knows the conditions of soil,
climate and seed. These are so different
here from what they are in the humid
east, the methods of farming are so
different, that some valuable time must
needs be lost learning the new con-
ditions.
The fact of the case is that the public
lands suitable to anything like eastern
conditions of farming are about exhaust
ed. A cycle of wet years has caused a
boom in lands that properly belong to
the sub-arid region, and a return OF the
dry seasons will not be impossible. The
spectators land in the better sections
of the west is usually of inferior quality
and is sold upon the strength of adjoin-
ing good lands. These statements hold
true in the main, and the land seeker
should be very cautious before tying up
his money and his time in land of which
he knows nothing. A season spent in
some chosen section of the west, prefer
ably as a farm laborer, would be time
well spent by the hOmeseeker. He
would come to know the soil and eli
matte conditions from the farmers
standpoint, and so would be far less
liable to make a mistake when selecting
land of his own.
But it seems to me that conditions
favor the man in the east who is willing
to farm scientifically. / am credibly
informed that excellent land may be had
in the eastern states for $50 an acre and
upward. Good land here, equally close
to good markets, is worth $40 to $50 an
acre. When one considers the advan-
tage of the eastern farmer as to location,
rainfall and the environments OF an
older civilization, it seems to me very
doubtful If change would be, on the
average, beneficial. We have about
reached the limit of profitable wheat
growing, and our best farmers are now
changing to a mixed farming basis
The dairying phase will come later. So,
you see, we are gradually approximating
the methods and the lines OF farming OF
the east. The man who comes to the
west thinking to devote his time ex-
clusively to grain farming will find him
self among the losers.
| am an eastern man who lives in and
believes in the west. 1t is a land OF
marvellous achievements and wonderful
possibility. But for this very reason
wish to carry this warning that all the
west is not alike; that the land specu-
lator has lands % sell, and does not always
use legitimate means to accomplish his
end, and that the man from the east
must adapt himself to western methods
before he can hope to succeed in western
farming.
And then you remember the old story
of the rainbow and the pots of gold;
how the boy saw that its end where the
pots of gold were dropped down into
his fathers garden, so he sought it and
the rainbow receded; and all through
the years he followed it, to come at last,
when an old man, to the home OF his
boyhood; and again the rainbow flung
it's arch between the hills and dropped
its shining bow into the tsngle OF
ancient trees. So he went and digged
there, and 10! the pots of gold!-Cor. in
Tribune Farmer.