Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1908-04-06
OUR FARMERS.
MODERN FARMING PAYS.

Does farming pay? Two young men
inss:- News York stated have. convinced
themselVes.it ssdoes. They.s had not been
bredsto. agriculture. One was.-an assist
ant.sbank clerk. the. other a civil en-
engineer. The civil engine
said to the bank clerk, "Why
it is that so many men say they are
going to have a farm when they get
rich? Why not have one right away?
| We both like farming. Let's buy one
| of these so-called abandoned places,
work it up and see what we can do
with it, So they went to work and
what they accomplished is as worthy
of attention in Vermont as in the En-
pire state.
The first thing they did was to ac-
quire technical knowledge, for which
purpose one attended an agricultural
college, while the other made syste-
matte study of the business manage
ment of farm.
The next thing was to look up To-
cation for their experiment, which they
found in Niagara county, New York,
IS miles from Buffalo and sixteen
miles from Lockport, where there were
three adjoining farms which had be-
come so run down as to be hardly prof
liable to their owners. There were
no fences, two oldssbarns, two miser-
ablexx houses andv 100 acres. They
bought he.sproperty for song
The engineer,ss who had taken his
course in agriculture to some purpose,
at once began to apply his knowledge
Of the chemistry of the soil to the i'm
provement of the impoverished land,
while the ex-bank clerk superintended
the construction of the new buildings
This was in 1906.
The young men have been two years
on the place, land their experiment
shows results. There was one field of
| six acres that usually produced about
II tons of hay, or one and three
quarters. tons Lper acre. The soil was
scientifically treated Last season the
field produced 80 tons Of timothy fit
for seed, or five and one-third tons per
acre of the finest hay that can be
grown. 1t cost two dollars and fifth
cents per ton to raise, and is worth
S15 per ton to sell, re urn of $3.50 for
an expenditure of $50. Fields of fruit,
grain and other crops have been SINH
larly increased. Up to the present
time the profits Of the two young
farmers have been $4,000 besides their
living.
One Of the great farm problems at
the present time is that Of labor on the
farm. On this subject the New York
Herald quotes the engineer member of
the firm as SAYING
! eve have no boss farmer or foreman
We run things and tell our six hired
men what to do And we don't have
any trouble about help, either. We
have men on the waiting list. That's
because we treat our hands just IS
they would be treated in the city We
pay them $40 a month"; or S25 al d
found. Their ahours are from six in
the morning. to six at night, with ore
and one-half hours incoming. They
quit at six, and there are no chores by
lantern light. They have their Sun
days off and all holidays and sick time.
1t pays. There is where so many
farmers fail. They complain of trou-
BILE about getting and keeping help.
Go and see... how they work them ard
what they give them to eat and TIE
places they give them to sleep in. We
saw thesreasonss for the trouble and e
have put in system that keeps new
men on the waiting list
The young men have experimental
and found out what pays them best
They are going to place their reliance
from now out on mixed farming, and,
as all crops are never known to fail II
a single year, they expect to keeI
on making money. In the meantime
they enjoy the independence Of kings
One of them expressed himself on this
subject as follows: Il hate to see the
night come, I'm so happy. If the rail
road gets gay, we shall plan to carry
our produce to town in automobile farm
wagons" Isn't that independence?
In what these young men have &C
complished by applying modern bust
ness methods to farming there is les
son for farmers in all parts of tn,
Uni.ed States.-Rutland News.