18G7, 



NEW ENGLAND FARI^IER. 



429 



profit which it yields ; but where the liability 

 is strong that the whole may be lost, this value 

 will stand at such a point that the profit may 

 constitute a large per cent, upon it. On the 

 other hand, where the property is of a nature 

 which must, without fail, yield an income 

 while wood grows and water runs, the price 

 rises so as to leave for profit only the bare 

 worth of the money invested. This last is 

 eminently the case with money put into a farm. 



Again as to the value of labor. It is not 

 meant, of course, that small skill is needed to 

 manage a flirm well, — the above remarks show 

 plainly that unusual expertness is requisite to 

 secure a handsome return, — but to do fair, 

 average farming, to reap reasonable crops, 

 calls for little more skill than to wield the hoe 

 and turn the furrow. Such labor cannot com- 

 mand high wages. These observations, if 

 carefully considered, will explain why it is that 

 the boys find it such slow work to pay for a 

 farm from its own profits. All perfectly safe 

 investments accumulate slowly. Think how 

 long it would take for the English three per 

 cent stocks to double themselves, while money 

 lent on "wild-cat" secui-ity, at twenty-five per 

 cent., increases very fast, if at all. This is 

 the whole mystery. 



Do the boys who read this, think it small 

 comfort to be told tliey can make but little by 

 farming, even if the reason therefor be given ? 

 Yes, there is comfort in it. Open the eyes of 

 your mind, see all these things just as they are, 

 appreciate all the advantages and disadvan- 

 tages of both sides, and then choose ; and 

 having chosen, go ahead like a man. 



Now, boys, let us look into it. If you stay 

 on the fainn and do not load your land with 

 expensive, fancy improvements, and run in 

 debt for them, you will be sure of a living for 

 yourself, wife and children, — and the more of 

 these "olive branches" you raise the richer 

 you will be, — so long as the world endures. 

 The ground will always yield her increase, 

 and if you sow diligently you will reap abun- 

 dantly — a little more of this and less of that 

 in any given season perhaps — and the gathered 

 crops you can eat, or you can sell them with- 

 out asking the favor or patronage of any one. 

 You hold the staff of life and all must come to 

 you. Wars and rumors of wars, financial ups 

 and financial downs, interest you simply as the 

 news of the day. For at the bottom of the 

 whole business is the fact, that you can always, 

 at a pinch, live entirely off' the products of 

 your land. 



The shoemaker starves unless some one will 

 give him food in exchange for his wares ; but 

 you are not only sure of a return, but that re- 

 turn you can put in your own and your chil- 

 dren's mouths, and meanwhile laugh moder- 

 ately at the panics of your neighbors. 



But suppose you resolve to leave the farm 

 and seek your fortune elsewhere. You in- 

 stantly become more or less dependent on the 

 favor of others ; and, upon investigation, you 



will discover that the higher the prizes which 

 your chosen profession offers, the less is your 

 chance of winning them. You look to the law, 

 perhaps. A (juarter of the members of that 

 profession fail utterly, and either die in the 

 midst of disappointment or seek other means 

 of support ; perhaps one-half manage to live ; 

 an eighth do well, while the rest run up from 

 well to very best, acquiring wealth and distinc- 

 tion. Do you wish to be a merchant? At 

 least one-half who venture into trade fail to 

 make way for themselves ; of the other half 

 most do fairly; a few Ijecome "merchant 

 princes," unless previously killed by hard 

 work and care. Tluis it is, wherever we may 

 look. If you must needs be rich and will take 

 the risks connected with the pursuit of wealth, 

 then the farm is no place for you. You will 

 never do its work with a hearty good will, and 

 had better not try. On the other hand, do 

 you wish to shun the uncertainties of life, and 

 desire to achieve by diligence perfect indepen- 

 dence of mind and body — preferring certain 

 moderate success to the perplexities and cares, 

 the ups and downs of the outer world, — then 

 get a farm on the best terms you can, get a 

 help meet for you, raise up a fiimily, and con- 

 sider yourself, with reason, one of the princes 

 of the earth. 



If this essay has interested and instructed 

 you, I may offer some hints by which you may 

 be able to get more for your labor on the 

 farm. a. 



Claremont, N. H., 18G7. 



Remarks. — It is very common to assume, 

 as our correspondent does, that the young 

 man who has had an apprenticeship of thrice 

 seven years in the use of agricultural imple- 

 ments should be ranked with the unskilful la- 

 borer; is it correct to do so? Put an axe, a 

 scythe, a hoe, a sickle, or even a bob-sled into 

 the hands of a really "unskilful laborer" and 

 place him in the field or wood-lot alongside of 

 a Yankee farmer's son, and then see if the 

 latter has not the full advantage of "skilled 

 labor." 



For the New England Farmer. 

 NOTES ON THE CONNECTICUT VAL- 

 LEr.— No. VI. 

 Cultivation of Tobacco. 



I am ignorant of the exact time of its first 

 cultiu'e, as a field crop, in this section, but 

 am under the impression that it dates back 

 twenty or twenty-five years, as I have seen 

 fields that have been referred to as having 

 been used for growing tobacco that period of 

 time. Much experience is thought necessary 

 to success in this as in all other kinds of busi' 

 ness. 



In the selection of a proper locality for a 

 seed bed, a sheltered place with a southern in- 



