1854. 



NEW ENGLAND FAR.MER. 



491 



For the jyew England Farmer. 



SOME WANTS WANTED BY FARMERS. 



That farcaers, as a body of working men, are 

 in want of capital and a great many improve- 

 ments on the farm, no one can deny ; and that 

 more of " slack farming " is gone through with 

 every year, for the want of well-invested capital 

 on the farm, no one can doubt. But then, cap- 

 ital in the shape of " money " is not all that is 

 wanted to make farming successful. For some 

 part of a farmer's capital consists in his knowl- 

 edge and experience in knowing how to apply his 

 money capital to the best advantage, and in such 

 a manner as will make the greatest improvement 

 on the farm. Now I have been led to these re- 

 marks in seeing the great want of capital, in 

 means and in farming experience both, so that it 

 has become a question worthy of serious consid- 

 eration as to what is the cause and the remedy. 

 In fact, I cannot ride out five miles in any di- 

 rection from my own residence, without seeing 

 this very principle carried out, and a want of the 

 right application of means, which every farmer 

 may have, more or less, by the right management 

 of farming operations. I know of a section of 

 farmers, in an adjoining county, where this prin- 

 ciple seems to have been acted upon from ol> 

 servation ever since the American Revolution, and 

 how long previous to that time I cannot say. 

 I doubt, in fact, whether the face of the coun- 

 try now presents as good an appearance as it did 

 then ; for fifty years ago they must have had 

 some very good farm fences ; and as the same 

 fences remain, what there is of them, the reader 

 can judge in what condition the general appear- 

 ance of the country is at present. 



Now what is the remedy for this fault and 

 slackness in farming operations, whose manage- 

 ment carries its own condemnation on its face? 

 There must be, in the first place, a general waking 

 up on the part of farmers to more energy in the 

 business; then the judicious outlay of capital is 

 another thing wanted, and it must be obtained at 

 some rate, as nothing can be done without it. For 

 it is as strictly necessary that " capital " should 

 be laid out in farming business as it is in anj^ 

 other trade. But then, says the farmer, how 

 is this capital to be obtained ! I have not got the 

 means, says the young farmer just starting in 

 life ; to which I answer, that is the same com- 

 plaint that nine-tenths of the farmers in the 

 country can make. Still, as it is known that 

 where there is a will there is a way, so it may be 

 here, although we may not be able to lay down a 

 certain rule to govern all, or guide them. When 

 a young farmer has just started on a new place, 

 instead of laying out all his capital in land, let 

 him save part of it to lay out in farm buildings 

 and other improvements — of course owning less 

 land, and having more ready money to improve 

 what he has got. But, as is more often the case 

 in New England, where the farmer occupies the 

 lands that his father did before him, if ready 

 capital is wanted and it cannot be readily ob- 

 tained, put a mortgage on a few acres of land 

 and raise the money in that way. For it is 

 better to pay interest money for a few years, than 

 to go without the means to invest in farming im- 

 provements ; for money laid out in landed property 

 . for farming purposes is a miserable investment, 



unless there be capital employed to make the land 

 pay. 



And this is the reason why so many of that 

 class of farmers referred to above are always com- 

 plaining that farming capital will not pay, when 

 the plain truth is, they never have given the farm 

 the first fair trial to see whether it would pay or 

 not. Such farmers, as soon as they get a spare 

 hundred dollars, instead of laying it out on the 

 farm, they will go and loan it out to some capi- 

 talist, or invest it in a "stock company or Savings 

 Bank,"' institutions which are good in their place, 

 as, for mechanics and men of small means, a Sa- 

 vings Bank is a good place to invest money. But 

 farmers had better be borrowers of such institu- 

 tions than lenders to them, as the capital can be 

 much better employed on the farm, where it may 

 be made to pay from eight to ten and twelve per 

 cent, on the investment, with good management. 

 But the great difiiculty is, farmers are so fearful 

 that if an extra dollar is laid out on the form, 

 that they will not see it again. What is wanted 

 in every town is, for some farmer to go forward 

 as a " leader " in Axrming matters, and make a 

 thorough renovation throughout the neighbor- 

 hood. Farmers, like other men, are led and in- 

 fluenced by others when they can see that a cer- 

 tain course is successful , if tiiey are not tied up 

 to "old fogyism" entirely. But if they are, 

 then it is very little use to talk to them on farm- 

 ing improvements. There is a class of farmers to 

 whom these remarks will not apply, as they are 

 ever ready to go forward and make improvements 

 on the farm at all times. 



These ideas and wants suggest to us other sub- 

 jects connected with farming improvements im- 

 portant to the farmer. During the attendance 

 of the late " State Fair in New Haven,'' a good 

 chance was given for farmers and citizens gen- 

 erally to learn something of value and importance 

 to any one interested in the cultivation of the 

 soil. And what citizen is not interested, more or 

 less, or should be, in this business, I would 

 inquire? From observation, I am satisfied that 

 farming improvements generally are not always 

 connected together as they should be. I have 

 found that improved stock, of various kinds, will 

 multiply much faster among farmers than will 

 improved agricultural implements and machines 

 to work the soil. In fact, I know of many 

 farmers who are anxious to show fine stock of 

 various kinds, yet their farming tools are a com- 

 plete "scare crow" in the fields. I do not 

 believe now that there is more than one farmer 

 out of ten in the " State " but that, if their farm- 

 ing tools were all put together in one '.• heap,"' 

 they would scare a " Japan farmer.*' By this 

 1 moan to show tliat farmers are much more 

 i behind on this point than on any other, or at 

 I least with that of improved stock; while I 

 I know that there was no feature of more conse- 

 jquence in our "State Fair," ' than the show of 

 farming implements and machines, although the 

 assortment was not as extensive as have been seen 

 at other exhibitions. But the plain English is, 

 farmers, as well as the muss of citizens generally, 

 will pay five dollars to bo amused wheri> th>y will 

 pay one dollar to be instr^.eted. This principle 

 I saw carried out at our " State P'.iir,"' as 

 Thursday was the day for the show of horses, as 

 it was also of the "plowing match." Going 



