347 
MAY 43 THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Burnl topics. 
RURAL PRIZE SERIES, 
PROFITABLE FARMING FOR 
A POOR MAN. 
How one Man Proved it Possible. 
[The above Is the title of a series of essays, for tile 
best of which premiums were offered by the Riiua t, 
\'i: w-Youki'.u Inst, year, the object being to assist 
those farmers who havo limited means or those hav- 
ng n small capital, about to engage In forming. They 
rre for the most part written by those who have 
passed through the trials of an Impoverished begin¬ 
ning to real success.] 
E. J. BROWNELL. 
Riley Burton was the son of a poor man 
who had managed to eke out a scanty subsis¬ 
tence on a farm situated on a barren hill-side 
in one of the eastern counties of New York, 
which came into his possession as his share of 
his father’s estate and where he had by the 
closest economy succeeded in providing his 
family, which consisted of four children—one 
son and three daughters—with the actua 
necessities of life aud furnishing them, by the 
aid of the common school system of the State, 
with a good common school education. In ad¬ 
dition to this, Riley had by rliut of extra ex¬ 
ertion on his oivii part secured the advantage 
of two terms in an academy located in an ad¬ 
joining town, and he has often had reason to 
be very thankful for the thorough discipline 
of mind which he there received, it having 
laid the foundation, as he believes, for that 
thoroughness aud system which are so neces¬ 
sary to success in any vocation in life, and not 
less so to the tiller of the soil than to one en¬ 
gaged in any other business or profession. 
On account of his father’s financial circum¬ 
stances, Riley remained at home to help in the 
support of the family until he was about 25 
years of age, when he secured a position as 
laborer on a farm in the western part of the 
State, devoted largely to the cultivation of 
small fruits and vegetables for market. 
Here he saw results in the growth of pro¬ 
ducts of the soil which, to one who had never 
previously witnessed anything of the kind, 
although he had grown up on the farm and 
had always helped in tilling the land, were 
truly surprising, and when he saw the product 
of one acre converted Into a sum considerably 
larger than the whole income from liis father’s 
farm of 100 acres, it is little wonder that he 
should become dissatisfied with the mode of 
farming to which he had been brought up. 
especially as he always had a taste in the di¬ 
rection of more thorough culture of a less 
amount of laud, which showed itself while he 
was at home iu the manner in which he cared 
for the family garden. 
He remained with his new employer for 
about four year's at au increased salary after 
the first season, as he proved himself worthy 
of his confidence by his steadiness ami trust¬ 
worthiness during his whole term of service, 
yet on account of sickness iu his fathers fam¬ 
ily, as he still continued to add the income 
from his labor to their scanty funds in order 
to support the family, ho found himself at the 
age of 30 with nothing towards a start in life 
except good health and the knowledge of agri¬ 
culture and horticulture he had gained by his 
experience and careful observation of the 
modes of culture which had come under his 
notice and a careful perusal of the best works 
on these subjects he could secure both in the 
way of books devoted to these subjects and 
also the leading agricultural and horticultural 
papers of the day. 
During the four yearn succeeding this period 
he managed to save from his earnings the 
sum of 3800, besides defraying his wedding ex¬ 
penses aud supporting his family, as he was 
married when about. 30 years of age, his wife 
bringing him nothing in the way of property 
except the household effects which constituted 
her wedding outfit 
He had for these four yeara lived iu rented 
houses, having been obliged to move twice 
during this time, and this moving he calcu¬ 
lated by a careful estimate had cost him at 
least $25 each time, although he had to move 
only’ a short distance, remaining in the same 
neighborhood and laboring principally for the 
same man, a wealthy farmer whose specialty 
was dairy farming, as indeed was that of most 
farmers in the locality where he now resides, 
being iu one of the towns of his native county. 
In the section in which Riley resided very 
little had ever been done in the way of culti¬ 
vating small fruits or vegetables for market, 
although some of the more progressive farm 
ers had grown a few strawberries and rttsp- 
berrios for family use—enough to show that 
with proper care they might be successnlly 
grown, though as the Winters were often quite 
severe, it hud boon generally supposed that 
they would not succeed. 
He had long believed that with sufficient 
capital to secure a start, and with land enough 
located at a convenient distance from some of 
the larger villages of the county to be within 
reach of a market for fruit ard vegetables, one 
might be able to build up a successful business 
in this line. Accordingly, at the end of this 
fourth year he began to look around to find 
some small place of the kind which, with his 
limited means, ho could secure. 
After considerable search he found a little 
place in which he decided to invest the amount 
at his command, giving a mortgage on the 
property for the balance of the purchase price, 
as he bel ieved it to be offered at a price at which 
in any event nothing could be lost. The prop¬ 
erty consisted of IX acre of land on which 
was a house aud a small barn, large enough to 
keep a cow and a horse and hold feed for them 
through the Winter, besides store room for 
carriage and sleigh. 
The house, though small, and somewhat out 
of repair, having been rented for several 
years, was large enough for a small family, 
and with very little expense could be made 
quite comfortable, and not being an old house 
could lie counted on with proper care to make 
a comfortable home for a number of years. 
The laud, with the exception of a knoll con t 
taining about one-half an acre which inclined 
to a gravelly soil, was a sort of loam between 
a sand and a clay, naturally well-drained and 
well adapted to gardening purposes, though 
never having been used for anything of the 
kind, not being cultivated except as it was 
occasionally planted to potatoes, a portion 
of it at. a time for family use—and then sowed 
with oats and seeded for a time, it had not 
been kept in a state of great fertility. It was 
situated at a distance of about two miles from 
the village of Dash, and was offered for sale 
for the sum of $550 The distance from town 
was considered by Riley a good deal of a 
drawl>ack for the purpose to which he wished 
to adapt it; hut as property of the same kind 
within easy reach of any of the villages about 
was hold at very much higher prices, and as 
this was loeated at or uear the junction of 
several other roads leading to larger villages, 
at a distance of six, eight and ten miles, he 
concluded to overlook this objection, and as 
he found no other property which seemed to 
him equally desirable, he purchased the place 
and started out with the resolution to show 
what could be done on a small piece of land 
thoroughly cultivated. 
One advantage he hacl which I should men¬ 
tion, perhaps, and that was that though his 
means for starting were so limited, the firm 
for whom he had worked in Western New 
York had told him that at any time when he 
could see an opening where he wished to en¬ 
gage in fruit culture, they would furnish him 
with stock from their grounds for whatever 
he wished to plant, and wait on him at his 
own convenience to pay the price of the stock. 
This the}" did on account of their confidence in 
him, anil their knowledge of the struggle he 
had to get a start in life. 
I shall now try to show something of his 
plans and modes of culture and the profits re¬ 
sulting therefrom. An inventory of his stock 
in trade at this time would stand something 
as follows: 
Asset*, m acre of land, with buildings. etc.$550 
One horse... 135 
One cow. 50 
Wngons, sleighs aud Implements, say. l'JO 
Total...$S45 
Liabilities—mortgage on real estate. $350 
This left him property in actual value to the 
amount of $4bf>. Add to this a reputation for 
strict integrity and uprightness iu dealing, a 
good social standing in the community in 
which he resided, and a resolution to accom¬ 
plish something iu the way of proving that 
the thorough culture of a small piece of land 
will pay, and w e have all he had to start with 
at the age of 34 yearn. 
In the Spriug of 13— he prepared the whole 
of his land, which was unoccupied by the build¬ 
ings, in the most thorough manner for plant- 
ing by plowing to an unusual depth—unusuai 
at. least for his locality—and removing, at the 
time of plowing, every stone which the plow 
would strike when run down “beam deep,” as 
it is commonly expressed. He planted three- 
quarters of an acre to Rasplierries. maimy of 
the Cap varieties, ami among these this first 
year he planted potatoes, putting in the Rasp¬ 
berries in rows six feet apart and the plants 
three feet apart in the rows. The form in 
which his land lay was such as to give him the 
advantage of securing long rows for planting 
(which from his experience he had learned was 
a great advantage in cultivating), the plot 
being 24 rods in length by 10 rods in width, the 
buildiugs and vegetable garden occupying4x10 
rods at one end, leaving the remainder so that 
he could have rows of fruit 20 rods iu length. 
The Raspberry plantation being six rods in 
width, or, as it lay adjacent to the highway, 
only about five tods actually under cultivation, 
contained 13 rows, each row containing 110 
plants, or, iu all, 1,480 plauts. 
Of these about 1,200 were Black Caps, being 
about equally divided between the three varie¬ 
ties, Gregg, Mammoth Cluster and Doolittle, 
and the remaining 230 were red, viz., 100 Phil¬ 
adelphia, 50 each Of Herstine and Brandy¬ 
wine, and about a dozen each of Cuthbert and 
Highland Hardy for trial. On the four rods 
in width planted, in rows three feet apart, ex¬ 
cept where two varieties came together, in 
which case he made the rows four feet apart, 
he had the following varieties of strawberries 
and number of rows: 
Crescent. S rows containing 2,650 plants. 
Wilson, I " ** 2,650 " 
Sbarpless, 4. “ “ l.'-SO “ 
These he planted one foot apart in the row¬ 
letting them form into matted rows, as he had 
decided from bis experience that this was, all 
things considered, the most profitable mode 
of culture. 
As usually grown, he would receive nothing 
in the way of income from any of this land be¬ 
yond what he might get from the sale of plants 
this first year, except the potatoes which he 
had planted among his Rasplierries, i. e., a 
row of potatoes between every two rows of 
plants, and a hill between every two plants in 
the row, thus having three-fourths of the laud 
actually occupied by potatoes. 
But as it seemed very' important for him to 
receive all the remuneration possible for his la¬ 
bor; this year he decided to try the experi¬ 
ment of growing some vegetables between the 
rows of Strawberries, believing that, the cul 
ture of the one would aid in the thrift of the 
other, and though it would necessitate more 
hand labor: as he could not in this case run the 
cultivator between these rows, he believed he 
would receive compensation for this extra la - 
bor in the sale of vegetables; besides, the 
tops and smaller roots of these would furnish 
a good deal of feed for his cow. 
He accordingly planted among the Straw¬ 
berries four rows of carrots, six rows of beets 
and eight rows of turnips, leaving the dividing 
rows between varieties vacant so that he 
could run the cultivator between them occa¬ 
sionally and so keep varieties separate. 
(Concluded next week.) 
Dfirmis. 
SOUTHWESTERN MISSOURI. 
Your Correspondents in Barton. The 
Inducements, and Opportunles 
For Netr-eonu rs, Lamar, 
Golden City etc. 
There is an idea prevalent among many 
citizens of the Eastern and Middle States, that 
it would be neither to their profit nor honor 
to be land-owners, or residents of the State of 
Missouri: tnat its soil is poor and worth¬ 
less: that its topography is rough; that its 
climate is unhealthful; aud that, its peo¬ 
ple are outlaws. No greater mistakes could 
possibly be made than these, ami although we 
were somewhat imbued with prejudices our¬ 
selves, a visit to several of the southwestern 
counties has cleared our minds of much ob¬ 
scurity regarding its advantages aud benefits, 
and we found instead of a shiftless, nomadic 
population, a thrifty and enterprising class of 
citizens—as thrifty and as enterprising as we 
have met iu our travels. We found rich men 
who have made their money at home; well-to- 
do farmers who have all they need, aud are 
able, and do pay for all they get. Barton 
County, which lies in the southwestern tier, 
20x20 miles in size, is a thorough exponent of 
the fallacy of many Eastern skepties. It is 
alive, active and progressive os its increase 
in two years in population amply proves—1860 
11,000; now nearly 17,000. The rolling prairie 
is interspersed with groves ami belts of tim¬ 
ber, comprising about ten per cent of the to¬ 
tal area, and skirting the st rea ins. Hickory. 
Waluut, the Oaks. Ash, Soft Maple, etc., are 
udigeuous. 
The county has abundance of good water; 
there are many mineral springs, and good 
wells are usually from 12 to 20 feet in depth. 
The soil possesses many features of the alluvial 
cast, partaking of the limestone qualities, 
though the rocky deposits reveal sandstone 
drifts. The average depth is from !•< to 20 
inches, and its fertility is manifested by the 
superior crops of cereals, vegetables, and fruit. 
Wheat yields, |>er acre, an average of 20 
bushels; oats, 40 bushels; corn, 40 bushels; 
w bile vegetables are due in quality and very 
prolific. 
The sub-soil is of reddish-yellow clav, from 
four to five feet deep, which, under the sub¬ 
soiling process, becomes remarkably produc¬ 
tive. It is underlaid bv strata of rocky shale 
and coal. As we found in Kansas, there is an 
increased interest in developing stock; and the 
building up of tine herds of Short-horn grades. 
There are also lurge interests in sheep—Cots- 
wolds and Merinos and ui Berkshire hogs, 
which are the favorites, ttud this interest alone 
forms u very prominent one iu this county. 
The natural grasses are abundant and nutri¬ 
tious; and of course t here is a great tendency 
to tame grasses, ami ample range for small 
herds gives evidence that the stock interest, 
especially tu fattening for market, is to lie one 
of Luc ...oM remunerative industries. A f.ue 
opportunity is here presented for good cream - 
eries. The price of lands is $10 per acre: 
farms, $15 to $50. according to location. 
There are over 350 square milt's of coal de¬ 
posits in Barton County: ten coal banks are 
opened, producing and shipping, and a num¬ 
ber of others yielding smaller quantities. The 
product for the last five months, reckoned at 
five cents per bushel, would be fnllv $50,000. 
The average thickness of the veins is about 
four feet. The coal is bituminous and of fine 
quality. The climate, instead of being mias¬ 
matic or malarious, is delightful. The Winters 
are short and mild, and ice rarely forms thick 
enough to be cut for use. The precipitation Is 
fully 17 inebps, in proper season. The alti¬ 
tude is 1,100 feet. These facts, together with 
the character of the soil, make this one of the 
finest fruit countries in America, and many a 
farmer in the East will not live where he 
cannot raise fruit. The county debt is nom¬ 
inal. only $10,000, bonded. The aggregate of 
all taxes' does not exceed 15 mills. Every 
neighborhood has its church, and its school 
houses; the people are orderly and industrious, 
and the society is fully equal to that of 
Eastern localities. 
Lamar, the County Seat —As would be 
expected from the character of the county, 
Lamar to the traveler presents that apnear- 
anee of thrift which characterizes many East¬ 
ern cities of greater pretensions. It is hand¬ 
somely located; has broad, well-kept streets, 
shaded upon each side hv trees and beautiful 
dwelling houses which indicate that their 
owners are prosperous and happy. When one 
arrives at the Square, around which are clus¬ 
tered the business houses, the advantages of 
the city, as a market, are shown hv the busy 
hum of industry, and the hundreds of farm 
wagons to he seen during pnv pleasant day. 
Its situation for exterior traffic is unexcep¬ 
tionable. The Kansas City, Fort Scott and 
Gulf Railway at this point crosses the Mis¬ 
souri Pacific: this railway will soon be open 
to Memphis. Tenn.. giving Lamar railroad 
communication with all the Southern e-arkets 
and the seaboard. The Northern and Eastern 
markets are already provided for. The «itv has 
2,500 population, an increase of over 100 per 
ceut. since the Census. A graded school of 
eight departments, thorough and efficient, 
with a school property' valued at $20,000; five 
churches with regular pastors: civic societies, 
A. F. <fc A. M.. 1 Bine Lodge and Chapter) I. 
O. O. F„ A. O. U. W„ S. K„ and G. A. R. 
(the latter of 200 members). There are a 
volunteer fire department ard a handsome 
Opera House, seating over 1.000, with every 
accessory. The Barton Com’tv Advocate, the 
Southwest Missourian and the Barton County 
Progress form its quota of newspapers, and 
where all are so good, comparisons woifid be 
invidious. The general character of the mer¬ 
cantile interests indicates a large business, but 
we were surprised to find that the commercial 
busioess for 1882 was approximately estimated 
by those who should know at $1,500,000, and 
the three banks are accredited with $10,000 
dailv deposit. The permanent, improvements 
for the past, year foot up $150,000, nianv of 
the braidings being of brick and store. Good 
building stone and excellent clay for brick 
and tiling are abundant. The tributary in¬ 
terests are mining, agriculture, stock" and 
fruit: and while we found a flouring mill, 
wagon, carriage, broom and cigar factories, 
there are still niauy opportunities for advan¬ 
tageous investment at Lamar, in manufac¬ 
turing interests, 
Golpen City, in this county, is situated 
imon the Memphis extension of the Kansas 
City, Fort Scott and Gulf Railroad, in the 
southeastern portion of the conn tv, 1.50 miles 
from Kansas City. Its locatiou is in a rich 
agricultural country, and is such that it draws 
trade from Jasper and Dade, and some from 
Cedar Counties The growth of the town has 
been rapid: in 1880 it had only about 150 pop¬ 
ulation. while now a conservative estimate 
would pur. it at fully 000, There is a graded 
school of three departments, though the pres¬ 
ent facilities are inadequate. It is the inten¬ 
tion to build a new school building this sea¬ 
son, aud increase the department privileges. 
There are rwo church edifices and another to 
be built this year; four civic societies; cue 
newspaper, the Golden City' Herald in its 
second volume: one bank; a small hall for 
public entertainment, and good social priv¬ 
ileges. The town is supplied with excellent 
water. The commercial business for 18s2 was 
carefully estimated at $800,000. with perma¬ 
nent improvements, during the same time, of 
between $4.5,000 and $50,000. The improve¬ 
ment for 13SS will be quite extensive, mostly 
Of brick, making a marked addition to the 
architectural appearance of the town. There 
is, at preseut, a flouring mill, with good open¬ 
ings fora canning establishment and other in- 
tererts suggested by the products of the 
county, especially a creamery - . Good brick 
clav, building stone, and superior coal are 
easily accessible. 
Liberal is on the F. S. and G. Railroad 124 
miles from Kansas City. It contains about 
300 people, sober, industrious and prosperous. 
This little village is something out of the 
usual order, Inasmuch as it is the only “free 
thought'’ town iti America, An extract from 
The Liberal, published here, gives an idea of 
the claims of the place. “We have no saloon; 
no whiskey; no preacher. We go on the prin¬ 
ciple that every man should earn what he gets, 
and get what he earns. "With the exception 
of being 'free-thinkers,' and discarding the 
Bible doctrines of religion, we are just like all 
other w'ell organized towns, where mental and 
moral w'orth are the stepping-stones to recog¬ 
nition.” There are a good school system, a 
number of business houses: a hall for meetings 
and entertainments, and pleasant people. 
Min'DEN was laid out last, September, at the 
crossing of the Kansas and Missouri, and the 
Fort Scott and Carthage Railroads, both of 
which enter Barton County; another is con¬ 
templated, coming from Girard. The location 
is high, affording an excellent view of the 
surrounding country. Building progresses 
rapidly, and a new hotel is to be erected this 
Spring. Business men. recognizing the ad¬ 
vantages. are seeking investments and pre¬ 
paring to locate. I here will be a schoohouse 
built this year. Two coal shafts are in active 
operation, and shipping largely. r. a s. 
