Does it Tay to Raise Corn? 307 



When we compare the cost of raising a^ given amonnt of 

 corn in Vermont with that of the Western States, the odds 

 are decidedly against us, and it is often said tliat it don't 

 pay to raise corn in New Enghmd, because Western corn 

 can be deliv^ered here at a cheaper rate than \ve can raise it. 

 And wlien we think of Western farmers cultivating their 

 thirty, sixty or ninety acres with one or two men and a 

 horse, it certainl}" looks like uphill business when compelled 

 to spend as much, and perhaps more labor on eight or ten 

 acres ; and then the idea of bending our bodies over a hoe 

 handle day after day, under a scorching sun, in the long 

 days of June and July, is not the most pleasant idea to 

 contemplate. 



But how will the two cases compare as applied to the 

 Eastern and Western producers when a sale is effected ? 

 Then the Vermonters ten acres will bring about the same 

 amount of currency as the Hoosier's thirty or forty ; and 

 then the amount of labor in harvesting, husking and mar- 

 keting is nuich less for the Yankee, than for either the Hoo- 

 sier or the Buckeye. But, for the sake of argument, admit 

 for the time that it costs less to buy Western corn than to 

 raise it in Vermont. Permit me to ask the question : what 

 are we to buy with ? Most of us farmers need the avails of 

 all our surplus produce to pay our running or current 

 expenses, and can scarcely keep even at that. And how are 

 we to pay for Western corn ? lie who knoivs will please 

 ansiver. 



I am aware that it is a sad dilemma for us farmers to be 

 without corn and no money to buy with, for to be without 

 corn is nearly equivalent to being without beef, pork, mut- 



