98 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Feb. 



■well there, and many make large foi-tunes. 

 They also form a very respectable class, many 

 of whom become very noted farmers and 

 breeders ; and one, a Mr. Reld, of Norfolk, 

 was recently elected to Parliament. 



But while tenant-farming here is subject to 

 but few of the difficulties and expenses inci- 

 dent to it in England, it is also entered into 

 with a different end in view. There it is a 

 permanent, life-long business ; here, men rent 

 land in order to get the means to buy farms of 

 their own. There, an aristocratic government 

 favors a monopoly of land in the hands of a 

 few ; here, republican institutions tend strongly 

 to, and are best subserved and protected by, 

 a divided and very general ownership of land. 

 Hence, the very genei'al desire of all men that 

 have to work land for a living is to own a good 

 farm. So that one of the strongest reasons 

 that can be urged in favor of tenant-farming 

 here is, that taking or renting a farm is one of 

 the best ways of getting the means of purchas- 

 ing. For while it will not do for a young man 

 to run in debt for the wliole cost of a farm, it 

 is not necessary to wait until he can pay all 

 down. The general experience in tliis section 

 shows that when a man, by renting land or 

 other means, earns lialf enough to pay for a farm, 

 he runs but little risk in running in debt for 

 the other half. Hence, in urging young men 

 to become tenant farmers, we may bring into 

 play all of the facts, reasons and arguments 

 that can be urged in favor of farming, in pre- 

 ference to any other business. But 1 have only 

 briefly alluded to a few of these reasons at this 

 time. 



Few young men sufficiently consider the fact, 

 that to get into a profession requires many 

 years of study and preparation. And when 

 once in, the professions are so crowded that it 

 is often many years before an opening is found, 

 and a paying business obtained. Tliese diffi- 

 culties have kept many talented men in the 

 background for years, or finally driven them 

 into other business. 



Nor can it be said to be much better in the 

 mercantile business. Here, too, every chance, 

 every opening for or avenue of trade, is 

 crowded and overdone ; so that very few of 

 those who seek to gain wealth by trade are suc- 

 cessful in getting and keeping it. Here, too, 

 competition and combination do their utmost 

 to prevent the success of the new beginner. 



But how different it is with the farmer. He 

 does not have to go through a long and expen- 

 sive course of" preparation before he is ready 

 to commence business for himself. Nor will 

 he have to wait many years before he can find 

 a suitable opening for and get fairly started 

 into business. On the contrary, the money 

 spent in getting an education, and going 

 through a thorough course of professional 

 studies, — with the cost of getting fairly started 

 in business, — would give a young man an ex- 

 cellent start on a hired farm. While the time 

 spent in preparing for and getting fairly started 



in a profession, if well improved on a good 

 farm, will enable him to save very nearly, if 

 not quite enough, to be able to buy a farm of 

 his own. 



And then, with a good farm of his own, how 

 much more independent he will be. Then his 

 business will not depend on the favor of the 

 public, which a few mistakes or a little mis- 

 management, may at any time deprive him of. 

 Few young men are aware of the trouble and 

 anxiety experienced by all those whose busi- 

 ness depends on public patronage. The busi- 

 ness of the farmer is not dependent on the 

 public. He can be independent in thought, 

 word and deed. Nor is he subject to that kind 

 of comjjetition that is all the time trying to de- 

 prive him of business for others' benefit. Nor 

 is his calling so very uncertain that, for one 

 that secures the desired success, scores, if not 

 hundreds, must fall far short, and a large pro- 

 portion fail altogether. The same amount of 

 study, tact, talent, energy and enterprise that 

 suffices to make a man only moderately suc- 

 cessful in a professional or a mercantile career, 

 will place him in the front rank of the tillers of 

 the soil. F. 



Western New York, Dec. 22, 18G6. 



An Old Agricultural Society. — Berkshire 

 County in Mass., has the oldest Agricultural So- 

 ciety in New England, if not in this country. Its 

 fifty-sixth annual fair was held on the '2d, 3d and 

 4th days of October, 1866. — lotoa Homestead. 



Remarks. — "The Massachusetts Society for 

 Promoting Agriculture" was incorporated in 

 1792, and is now seventy-four years old. The 

 Middlesex County Society, was established 

 January 6, 1794, and last September it held its 

 seventy-second anniversary, and was neither 

 "halt, lame or blind," notwithstanding its age. 

 Indeed, it never before gave evidence of so 

 much power and determination to be useful to 

 the world ! Come and see us, brother Home- 

 stead, and we will show you that old folks can 

 do some things as well as you young giants out 

 West. 



Good Effects of Dkainage. — Mr. W. R. 

 Wheeler, of West Roxbury, Mass., informs us 

 that a cold wet piece of land, which produced a 

 small amount of coarse grass, come into his 

 possession about six years ago. An open ditch 

 was dug for a main drain, and cross ditches 

 fdled wltli stones leading to it, about two rods 

 apart. The subsoil from the ditches was 

 spread upon the surface, which was lightly ma- 

 nured. Very heavy crops of hay were cut up- 

 on tills land the past season, — estimated, by 

 those who saw the grass and the hay, at four 

 tons per acre. 



