Year: 1875

John Ploughshare,'' through the West


Chester Je9ersonian, is giving some good adj


vice to young farmers. His remarks will


apply to Kent as we'll as to Chester county.


He says:


have had a long talk to-day with young


John Jones, son of old John. that lives in


the next township, and now owns the


great farm that he lives on, having paid up


his mortgage in full last Spring. He seems


to be very worthy man, well brought up.


very industrious, and | judge quite saving.


lie tells me that he has been getting mar


ried lately to young woman belonging to


large family of children in the northern


part OF the country: her father is a we'll


TODD farmer there and has raised his large


family 50 that they have been accustomed


70 the best society of the neichborhood.


living in large house and entertaining


much company, and has not been able to


lay by much personal property towards start


ing his children out in the world. He has.


however, raised one thousand dollars TO


help the daughter, and young John thinks


that this, with the two thousand that he


has saved and made out of the liberal


wages paid him by his father, should be
sufficient to give them q start in the world.


lie called on me to-day for a little advice.
thinking that | knew something about
western farming and the chances of success
there


inquired if he had looked around here
for farm suited to his wants and means.
He said he had taken his wife to see several
small places that they could buy without
gong much into debt for them. One
that they looked at of fifty acres was lust
what he wanted in quantity of soil. being
first rate, but the buildings were so shabby,
old, and rotten, that his new wife could NOT
think OF going into them, as all Of her old
friends would be surprised at her LEAVING
the comfortable home she had for such a
forsaken log house as that and would cut
heracquaintance. The next place theywent
10 look at was on the slate ridge, and poor.
requiring constant applications of fertili-
zerS to keep it in a productive con.
dition. This had very nice large
stone house on it that his wife thought
would do very well. She could there en-.
terrain her friends without being ashamed
OF her home. Poor thing; she has not vet
found out the cost Of entertaining comnanv
the loss Of time and hinderance to a Young
couple who have their living to make. But |
John was not accustomed to that kind of |
soil, he had been used to the large crops /
gathered from the good soil on the Brandy. |
wine and did not like it. The next place |
visited was one belonging to a widow. |
whose husband had lately died. He had !
been very careful farmer, had got his |
grounds into good order first, and then
built himself a comfortable house to live in:
but several years of hard labor, with a /
rather feeble constitution, had been too
much for him. This now had to be sold.
and was offered at what was considered bv
all a very reasonable price, SIX thousand /
dollars. This property pleased the young
couple in every way, except that John
dreaded going into debt for ore-half of it.
SO he had about given up all prospect of
finding place TO suit them here. When
hearing that in many parts of the West,
the best Of land could be bought for ten
dollars per acre, he called on me to make
some inquiry about it. Well, John SAYS I.
Is YOU have come to me for advice Won
shall have it, but if it don't suit YOU don't
take it, In the first place, if you 60 to the
far West you and your little wife must con-
clude to give up all of the comforts and
conveniences that you have both been
accustomed too. On the ten dollar lands
YOU will find no comfortable buildings
ready for you to occupy, or fences put up
around it. So you may at once go to work
and build for yourself log cabin in the
weeds, and fence in your place at a cost of
many dollars and much hard labor, where
you may expect 20 pass many years in hard
work for both of you before you can hope
to build comfortable house to live in and
accumulate the conyeniences and comforts
around you that you leave behind. Ifl
you stop in more settled part of the
western country, say in Ohio or Indiana,
you would find land of the same quality,
selling almost at the same prices as here, if