61 



Good facilities for transportation are among the necessities ia 

 farming; let a farm be ever so good, the owner ever so practical and 

 well informed, but having no easy method of conveying his crops to 

 a market, he can never hope to compete successfully with another, 

 who, though not having quite as good a farm, has what more than 

 compensates for this, namely easy transportation. These should be 

 something besides good highways, though these are most valuable 

 adjuncts. Good railroads are of greater importance than good high- 

 ways, in most sections, as there can be but few places M'here a per- 

 son is able to carry his farm produce directly into market himself. 

 Having good markets near by will save much of the risk incident 

 upon sending crops by car to a distance. A city market is of course 

 superior to any smaller one. as the quantity which would cause a 

 glut in the latter, would not make any appreciable difference in the 

 formei', and the prices lluctuate less in a large market. During a 

 few years past there has been much said and vmtten ujjon "Western 

 farming, the immense profits, light work &c., but we will presently 

 look at some facts in regard to this. 



Yet there are, or should be some other objects to be kejDt in view 

 as well as dollars and cents. True it is that most of us are toilinjr 

 and striving after " filthy lucre" though we try to delude ourselves 

 A^ith the belief that the goal for which we are laboring, is something 

 more noble, yet in farming perhaps more than in any other pursuit, 

 there are other aims more important than pecuhiary matters. 



Of course such a thing as a bachelor fai-mer is not to be tolerated 

 for a moment, although a bachelor may succeed in nearly everything 

 else ; yet, in this particular branch, the need of a better half will 

 make itself painfully apparent. To a farmer having a family to 

 rear, there are many things which miast claim as much of his at- 

 tention as the laying \\p of money. If he is intelhgent, he wishes of 

 course to have his childi'en as well or better educated than himself, 

 and in order to do this, it is necessary to locate where he can reap 

 the benefits of good schools. 



You may say, if a man has money, he can educate his children 

 away fi'om home, if there are no suitable schools in his vicinity, but 

 I think most will allow, that for young children, an education 

 obtained away from home, will not compare favorably with the 

 training received under the watchful and interested care of pa- 

 rents. Should a person go to the West to follow farming, he 

 cannot expect such educational advantages as he would enjoy in 



