“to improve the soil and the mind.” 
New Series. ALBANY, NOVEMBER, 1850. Vol. VII.— No. 11. 
Agriculture—Its Labors, its Profits, its Pleasures. 
There are some questions in relation to agriculture 
that are of vital interest to us as practical farmers. 
In these days of struggling for wealth and honors, 
and in these days, too, of striving for making mo¬ 
ney in the easiest way, questions like the following 
come to us from many quarters. Is the profit of 
agriculture at all adequate to its labor? Is not ag¬ 
riculture a life of incessant toil? Of all trades and 
occupations, is it not the poorest investment for 
capital? 
In a former communication for the Cultivator, I 
simply glanced at the subject,- I wish now to con¬ 
sider it a little more in detail. The questions must be 
met and answered, and they must be answered fair¬ 
ly, too. It will not do to quote one or two instan¬ 
ces where men have been particularly favored, and 
have acquired property by agricultural pursuits. It 
is with agriculture as a business, a calling, that we 
have now to do. I say the questions must be an¬ 
swered, and fairly answered, and the answer to 
them is a matter of vital interest to us as practical 
farmers. 
Many young men are yearly leaving their fathers 
and going to the large cities to seek employment. 
Some become clerks in stores, others become cartmen, 
some become one thing, some another; all however, 
under the fixed apprehension that anything is better 
than agriculture, that everything pays a better pro¬ 
fit. If it can be proved that everything is more pro¬ 
fitable than agriculture, that it is a calling scarce 
worth following, and in fact only followed either by 
rich men for their amusement and pleasure, or by 
those who have been brought up to the business, 
and who cannot get out of it—then indeed have we 
found a mystery. What is it but this—that agricul¬ 
ture, the most ancient, the most honorable of all oc¬ 
cupations—the main spring of trade, commerce, and 
of all other occupations,—the source from which all 
the other callings derive their support—-that this, I 
say, is worthless. But if, on the contrary, it can be 
shown that the complaint is ill founded, something 
at least for the honor of agriculture will be achieved. 
I wish, then, in this article, to consider its labors, 
its profits, its pleasures. First, then. 
Its Labors. —Mankind are ever prone to find 
fault with the occupation which they have chosen, 
or into which circumstance have called them. It is 
by no means wonderful that some farmers should 
complain of their lot; if they did not, it would show 
a superiority in their calling above all others. Who 
has not heard the doctor complain of the hardship 
of his lot, the lawyer of his, the merchant of his, 
and men of all other occupations and trades of theirs. 
Now it is no doubt true that the labor of the farmer 
is severe. He must make hay when the sun shines. I 
He must plow and hoe through the long summer day. 
His sweaty brow, his sun-burnt cheek, betoken him 
a man of toil, but his rugged countenance betokens, 
too, that his toil is healthy. His face bears not the 
care worn look of the doctor, anxious for the fate of 
his patients; or the lawyer, studying patiently and 
laboriously the cause he is about to try; or yet the 
merchant, plodding over his account-books. The 
farmer’s toil is hard, but when night comes, he can 
lie down in calm repose and rest from his labors, 
while nature is carrying on the process of growth 
among his crops. The farmer’s toil is hard, but we 
may hope from present appearances that much 
of the severe physical labor to which he has been 
subjected, may be ameliorated by the invention of 
labor-saving machinery. 
The Profits of Agriculture. —Is it at all ad¬ 
equate to its labor? I think it is. I think that all 
other things being equal, agriculture can be made 
to pay as good an interest as any other legitimate 
occupation. It is an axiom of trade and business, 
that the greater the risk, the greater the profit. 
Now, agriculture is truly a legitimate business—it 
is a choice which a man makes from among the va¬ 
rious branches of social occupations as to which way 
he will obtain a livelihood. Any man, therefore, 
who enters into the pursuit of agriculture as a matter 
of speculation , will be very apt to be disappointed; 
but if he enter into it and is qualified for his business, 
I think he cannot fail of making a compensation for 
his labors. Things, I believe, are more evenly bal¬ 
anced than men are willing at first sight to admit. 
Now I do not claim that the profits of the farmer 
are as large as the profits of the merchant. I do 
not know whether they ever will be—there are many 
things in the way which forbid it. In the first place, 
the risk of the farmer is not by any means as great as 
the risk of the merchant, and according to the axiom 
of trade,we have mentioned he cannot look for as 
large profits. 
But again, there are facilities connected with the 
credit system which belong solely to the merchant 
and trader, which the farmer cannot, with safety, 
avail himself of. A merchant with a capital of five 
thousand dollars, often trades to the amount of twenty 
thousand dollars; sometimes to a much greater 
amount. Some singular developements of the abuse 
of the credit system came to light during the panic 
of 1837, in the city of New-York. Men with little 
or no capital, failed for immense amounts. Perhaps 
some one may say, “well, if my capital of $5,000 
gives me the opportunity of trading to the amount 
of $20,000, I am better off in business, and can make 
more by my business than the farmer can, with the 
same amount of actual capital which I possess.” I 
would reply to that—yes: so you can, but if you 
think it both safe and honest, it is more than I do. 
You run a great risk and get a good profit; so long 
