Fortunes for Farmers 



by mining machinery, but by Meredith's " spade 

 virtues " of honesty, industry, and perseverance, 

 " which," says he, " never fail to raise a crop." 

 These are no moral maxims for young men, but 

 hard facts, and may be proved. In my immediate 

 locality are a number of young farmers, between 

 25 and 35 years, who are progressing rapidly, 

 taking more and more land, up-to-date, enter- 

 prising, and ever ready to try new methods. 

 Some were labourers ten years ago, saved a little 

 money, took a small holding, and never looked 

 back; others were started by their fathers, mostly 

 in a small way, and have gone forward. 



It is as remarkably true in agriculture as in 

 Lancashire commerce, that " there are three 

 generations from shirt sleeves to shirt sleeves," 

 and the grandson of a successful farmer is seldom 

 a great one himself. Newcomers are always 

 springing from the soil to displace the slothful, 

 and doubtless it is for the better. 



A marvellous change has overcome farming 

 during the last generation. Intensive culture is 

 spreading, and farmers are abandoning the old 

 methods, to experiment with potatoes, peas, 

 fruit, vegetables, flowers, and market garden 

 produce, leaving beef, mutton and wheat to the 

 foreigner. Everywhere the shrewdest are calcu- 

 lating that it costs more to produce a pound of 



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