Agricultural.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 4, Issue 1020, 11 March 1882, Page 1 (Supplement)

Agricultural.

1(; | THE SMALL FARMERS. , |lt Is almost unanimously conceded by .writers iOn. political,. economy thfit the moqt impoiftnt and necessary class ior .theprosperjty.and, happiness.of a,State is thatpfthe.sniall farmers or, peasantry^,. The, ideal community! ,aj|describe(l by) poet ,apd ; statesman,; is made up of: tillers of the sojj, ~ieach secure in his,own jiltle.pajchf of land', qn,whichj with economy 'and industry, he may support 'His' family jn comfort ;and, with, ah the advantages of .re, '%ous andstcular instruction;,' Unfoitunately, hbwever,. such.a.lpt seldorp satisfies the am. bition of a frce*bor(\ American citizen, Neatly all who engaged in agricultural pursuits are ■possessed with a desire'to oVn more lanci than , ; they can cultivate to profit, .It is their lambi, tion, as it is that ,of rnany of our heavy capitalists;,; to be, ?,ble,to look -on thousands of , broad acres they,can fall.their own j,' and this ,one of .the, greatest hindrances the pros:' perity of jncreasa of/the '.best sort,of population.The', greed.,of iand iW the cause, ,a? some say, of firat,quarrel be|ween ,the tons of.,fiien....' oain filled' his garden, and was tillhe i savtf how: much more land , Abel required on vyhlch to pasture his flocks," (he quar--rel jind,death of Abelj Ever^since,'the greed jbee'n'r.t'he. ruling, desire, (jf 1 kings. Vd potentate?, princes', tKe'.cftpi'- 1 ; talis,t, . the ;lande<j n pfbpiiet(^,and'the man with,his few ac^^a^'the^^'happ^ 1 ' prosperity, and have '.been. fpund in those thli " priginal Vin " has,least .prevailed. iTo show how,detrimental to'.'tile 'public at laigeu.thjs greed "of lurid, we have, only .to lbpk,at the coridition of three countries,'Ei)g-, land, Ffance j an'd Belgium. In England, after j confiscalioii Ohuteh linfls tinder the Tudors, afld,the iiuteeqiieht 'confiscations ! aWddjyisjons caused by the civil wars, large iracts 1 JVcre„'thio,wn on the market, so (hat'sVnall holdings': : beca'nje. possible "to men of small .and English yeomanry became a ppwerl'uL and , ijifl.iienliat ,cl^ss.,, It was then that the principies'ofcivil.liberty became Kxed in the character jitiil law®, itid./llicn | w W;the period of the happy' Arcadian day's of ;England,. so, beaulifully' described by 'Goldsmith jn his "Dfsertef Village;' l ' Bill this iW(js, all \yhen' the' great foitiines accumulaled by .conquest, .arid djneovery enabled their owijers to gratify, llieir" greed for land, land: to buy. ;ou,t;,or othrr.wise dispossess the small, farmers on •vy.hoifl the national prosperity and happiness.lijd lor ;a. long time largely,dejpended,., IJjien was seen how true it ls that I "111 fares.tho laud to lustouing ills a my; : . j i, Whore wealth aceuinulatos and men decay. . , Rut a bold peasautry, tlieir country's pride,' ' .fftion ouejft tlrstroyejl, .can never tw supplied, This course of acquisition of the land by the few, to the excbtsion.of the many, has .gone. on., till, the class called: yeomanry, oi (peasantry, has diminished,tp almost.nothing. ,To; this have succeeded the tenant farmery and •agricultural- laborers, the latter of which are, , •perhaps,, a? ignorant, and miserable, a class oi jbeings as ever dwelt in any. country called ,•, . .

: The experience of France up to the time of jthe Revolution was even more disastrous to j.tbo peasantry., .The nobility and priesthood [ jownedj almost every thing, and the peasantry jwere glad if, by incessant toil,' tliey could sup. jport life.,- But the„power of ihe nobilily and •the priests was broken in that great convulsion, and. the laws of, inheritance being jchanged under the Cade Napoleon, the grt»i Restates have been divided up, and,the number |(if small farmers has so increased that Francr jis to-day ;the most . .prosperous eounlry in Europp. ; " .

But the little Kingdom of Belgium is the ;best eiampl<! of what a country can produce ( aml the number of people it can support when J the .lands are held to a great extent by the peasantry, A comparison of iliat country ■ with some fainili.ir section of California' will | serve to show what a vast population this : State may support wlion once the great land- ; holder shall be prevailed. upon to part withjhis land lo the small fainieis. The Kingdom jof Belgium has an area 0(11,373 square milei ior 7,278,720 acyes, The two cminiieg ofAlameda awl Contra f posta contain .1620 square I miles, equjil to. 1,04.6,800 acres, or about one;sey?n|;li «s much The.population qf one is lo tho square mile; of the other, 32,698, of about 20 to the square mile, . The Climate of the country terms the bay is far better than that : the soil is naturally, more productive | and capable !of snatuining &; much; largef population. yet jone.supports about one'/persop |i»lf to the acre, and the Qlhef on* person to 31 acres'. Vfhftt' tlifne, two iCountipj would, p.f^uce,.yfhat population they would support, supposing that, like Belgium, the land was largely owned by farmers, each of whom cultivated his own little plat. In that country ten acres it considered a respectable,little larm, and if we will suppose oui neighboring counties to be parcelled out'with ; farms double tbe sijo, 01 twenty acrea each, ; they Vffluld give 52,340 farms, each capable ol supporting a family, which, at the usual average of five to a family,' would give a population of 261,700, or mote tltfiuuhird of the present population rI (hpentire stqtc. ■., ,( Theso -Ms— the most, of them—yield so poor a return to the owners that it , requires but a small sum to purchase 20, acres. That is enough if man arid wife, think it so; and itis as easily proved that at the and of a dozen years they may, iwith industry and economy, have a home that,will give them a competency, , for the rest of their lives, as' that, if they, start with 500 acres of land and no other resources, 'they will Within; that; time be houseless :and penniless, 1 Such-has been the experience in, ! the past. The man who has put all his capital :in. land,' and; then attempted to cultivate• a large farm, has almost (invariably come, to; grief j while those who. have been satisfied; with small patches, and not been above truckfarming; have gonerally got rich or at least forehanded.'

' Of course, if the number of small farmers were largely arid many more, than at present were engaged iri .the raising, of, ; vegetables, Ismail : and what is known as " truck," the market would be glutted,i Vid there ; would, be but little profit in the 'business,;; but, at this day .the small farmers ■ may realize a fair.return on nearly everything ; that cap be raised on a farm. ; i It is true that the price at which the earliest fruits are sold jlasts.bnt a short time; yet, with the facilities jin canning which eyery. neighborhood may j have, and,the, facilitjes for transportation the. I average farper' now enjoys, he has the whole, ■World for a market, and nothing on his place ;jneed go to waste, h ; ( , ~n ~ . .! | ■ But,the idja of g?ltiog rich 'in a ife\y. years •must be given up: This.is t(ie bane,and error | of;our Apierican,farmers, , ftlie peasant pro-, iprietors ofFrance, Belgjum. and Flanders do, •not look for it. They expect, only,' ;with in'dualry and economy, to live in comfort, ,to educate their children, and to, add, something every year to the value of their'little. home-; ;steads, and when old age shall ; come' upon' them, to have a modest competency sequred. „ , A ; community imade. up,"of such people is : the happiest,ever, knownimagined; and' yet how few Americans cap resign, themselves ■ .to.it?; Howimany prefer, jt'o Work for wages, in the,towns; aud thus earn fiprecariouslmnjj,'-i never having a/home, of' and : no' prospect in their, old';age',but distress and poverty I-Alta. California (Saii s Pfanasco).," , .'.■•'"•■ i; it :.U i j,.;-; ••■■'l.