PEOCEEniNGS OF THE FaEMEBS' ClUB. ggX 



healthy, vigorous form .and ruddy countenance, I could not hut think of 

 the thousands of poor, puny, complaining you^ng men, whom we all 

 know and sincerely pity, wdio drag along an existence wearisome to 

 themselves and a hurden to all their friends in the eastern States, and 

 wish tliey were here and could ?ee this country and these people, and 

 judge for themselves. As you well know, I do not own and have 

 not a cent of interest in any land or railroad this side of the Hudson 

 river. I will M'rite you again from the Waschetta Hountains, for 

 which place T hope to leave to-morrow morning. 



Mr, Horace Greeley. — This is but a fair and reasonalde record for 

 a young man of thrift and industry on those- western lands. I believe 

 a million of young men could in four years tell just such a story as 

 this farmer whom Yincent Colyer saw shoveling up his corn. There 

 is some difficulty about it. All cannot work as he does. All are not 

 as thrifty. But hundreds can present a similar record, ' Not long 

 since I saw a man who went west as a mechanic. Last year he said 

 to me, " I raised 3,000 bushels of graiil." 



Mr. T. C. Peters. — Is it not possible for a man to make as much, 

 and show as fair a record, by tilling ten acres as a market garden 

 near Kew York ? The value of land is produced by labor, and by 

 nearness of markets. I think a market garden, one-tenth as large as 

 this Missouri farm, may yield as much. 



Mr, Horace Greeley. — Some, I admit, might do as "well on a tract 

 of Jersey land as on Long Island. But the majority of young men 

 can raise corn, wdieat and barley, much better than they can asparagus 

 and cauliflower. Kearness to market is a constantly fluctuating term. 

 The most western pioneer may now find in the Eocky mountains a 

 better market than the Jersey market gardener. Railroads and waves 

 of migration are constantly shifting markets, and the study of these 

 causes on prices of farm products cannot be neglected by any farmer 

 wdio would understand his business. 



Mr. T, C. Peters. — Will Mr. Greeley or some other member of the 

 club define what he means by the value of land. If live acres of 

 asparagus will bring me as much money as fifty acres of wheat, in 

 what sense is the asparagus garden less valuable than the wheat field I 



Mr. Horace Greeley. — In theory this may be sound reasoning. But 

 as a matter of actual trial, the five-acre farms have not been found 

 enough. It has been tried at Yineland, and the general opinion is 

 that Mr. Landis made a mistake in carving his land into five-acre 

 patches. A man wants some timber land and pasture. He wants 



