138 STATE POMOIvOGlCAL SOCIETY. 



oughly believe it is our duty and privilege to estimate and figure 

 out our chances for success or failure in all farming under- 

 takings. No one should undertake a business who has not the 

 possibilities at least for what he seeks. To demonstrate, we 

 hear so much to-day about farming not paying, from men who 

 are already engaged in it. I have taken occasion in many 

 instances to examine into many individual cases of this kind 

 and find the conditions for success are impossibilities to begin 

 with. Here is an example, a man whom I know has a 100 acre 

 New England farm, two-thirds of it is forest or natural pastur- 

 age, so called ; the remainder has been under cultivation at some 

 time or other, but nine acres are all that he tills each year. 

 Now the forest land furnishes him his fuel and not much more 

 under his method of management ; the meadow his hay, which 

 about compensates for the labor in harvesting it, while the nine 

 acres under cultivation must produce his salary. He raises an 

 acre or two of potatoes and the remainder, with the exception 

 of a small farm garden, is devoted to ensilage corn. He makes 

 milk for retail trade carrying about ten cows, has a span of 

 horses, and thinks he needs a cheap hired hand. This man is 

 staring providence in the face and attempting an impossibility 

 when he courts success under his conditions. His taxes, horse 

 and cattle foods, hired labor, depreciation in buildings and tools, 

 etc., amount to more than his income. He aught to know he is 

 attempting an impossibility — and finding fault will never over- 

 come his conditions ; think of it, only nine acres, which if it 

 produced maximum crops each year would not give him cash 

 net returns over $30 an acre for the crops he is raising, or $270 

 possible income for the year. 



If a man expects to make a success he must form some idea 

 of his real worth, and what he ought to make as a salary for his 

 own satisfaction ; then study out what he must do in the way of 

 farming to accomplish the desired results. If I consider myself 

 only a $300 man and I am growing hay for market, if my land 

 is in good heart and I can produce an annual yield of three tons 

 per acre and this sells at, say $15 a ton, it will take only ten 

 acres to satisfy my demands, allowing one ton per acre for 

 expense in harvesting. If I will not be contented with less than 

 $1,000 or $2,500 a year, I must greatly adjust my base of 

 operation. 



