92 
higher.” Enterprising young men who propose to engage in farming, 
generally go West to “ grow up with the country.” 
The few laborers attainable are mostly foreigners, and many farmers 
limit their operations to avoid the necessity of their employment, pre- 
ferring to live quietly, and scarcely daring to assume the expense of 
hired labor. Our correspondent for Chemung, New York, Suggests, as 
a remedial measure, the giving of ‘ help” an interest in the crops in 
addition to wages. There are many who meet the difficulty quite phi- 
losophically. The Jefferson, New York, correspondent says, ‘‘Let us 
rather pay high wages than high taxes for the support of the poor. 
There are so many labor-saving machines now in the reach of the farmer 
that if he and those of his family who are able to work take hold in an © 
earnest and judicious way, he may get along with much less hired help 
than he could in the good old time when all the work had to be done by 
hand.” 
It is by no means a misfortune to the country that wages are high in 
proportion to the cost of the necessaries of life. The fact that every 
farm-laborer may have a spot of land to call his own is the crowning 
glory of our country, and his disposition to claim the boon is the high- 
est evidence of his intelligence and patriotism. The following extracts 
are in point: 
Monroe, N. Y.—Any man of energy and capability can and will get a piece of land 
of his own, and, by raising vegetables and other crops that require but little land 
and much labor, can do as well or better than the average farmer, and be more inde- 
pendent, profitably combining the labor of his‘family with his own. This is an excel- 
Hi thing for our country, but inconvenient for the farmers who have to employ hired 
abor. 
Darlington, S. C.—The labor question does not affect small farmers whose families do 
the principal work. This class is making more money and succeeding better than any 
other, and better than they ever did before. 
The following extracts, from many of similar tenor that might be 
made, illustrate further the difficulty in obtaining desired supplies of 
labor and the resulting cost when obtained : 
Delaware, Pa.—A few are securing Swedish laborers through an association in 
Wilmington, Delaware. By paying a sum of money in advance, say $50 or $60, 
they are furnished by the association with a newly arrived Swede, whose pay is to be 
$10 to $12 per month, for one year. About 75 per cent. of the sum is paid in advance, 
to be deducted from his or her wages; women’s wages, of course, being less than men’s. 
Gloucester, Va.—Farmers have too much land; pay taxes on dead capital, and 
cannot procure steady, reliable labor. Our best and ablest laborers are employed in 
oystering, wood-chopping, and lumbering. 
Nansemond, Va.—The remedy naturally suggesting itself is to increase the pro- 
ducts from every acre, so as to render it profitable and possible for the farmer to pay 
higher wages. To divide the land into smaller farms, adopt the English system of 
long leases, establish manufactures of all kinds for home products and all implements 
used on the farms Thus will come home markets and population. At present, at 
least one-third of the gross proceeds of all the farmer sends to a distant market is lost 
to him from expense of packing, freights, and commissions. 
Botetourt, Va—Farmers have too much land. We have thousands of broad acres 
of as fine land as there is in the world, uncultivated for the want of proper energy and 
sufficient labor. Of course we shall complain of hard times until such land is sold or 
properly cultivated. Another cause I must mention—our own people have not learned 
how to work. 
Rappahannock, Va.—The close of the war left the farmer with his land in bad 
condition, no stock on it of value, no money, and perhaps in debt. Labor since has 
been inadequate, and almost worthless, and getting worse every year. The best 
laborers go to Washington City. Taxes are necessarily high. All of which operate 
as causes of discouragement, combined with the scanty products of soil from poor eul- 
tivation, rendered so from scarcity of labor. 
Nelson, Va.—The most industrious and reliable among the freedmen seek employ- 
iment on our railroads and other public works, where they can get better wages than 
farmers can afford to pay. This leaves the indolent, improvident, and thievish, with the 
women and children, among us to get their living by pilfering or otherwise, as best 
