The Winchester weekly appeal. [volume] (Winchester, Tenn.) 1856-1856, 1856-12-19
48ritu!tural Cnyner.
IMPROVED FARMING.


In almost all kinds OF business there
have been great improvements within
the last few years. The farmers bust
ness has come in last though not least
for the advantages Of he genius of inn
provcment. Yet Improvement has but
Just commenced its work in agricul-
turc. Not many years back the old
wooden pow-scarccly better than n
crooked stick, was cvcrywhere used to
stir tie sol and prepare it for seed
Itisstill used in Mexico and unimprov-
cd countries. As in the plow, SO in
everything that relates to agriculture.
the work Of improvement has fairly
commenced. Yet some are opposed
10 oil innovations, and are ever brand
ing with opprobrious cpithets, what
they call improved Turning. We must
expect old fogies everywhere. But let
us see what improved farming has
done.
We might look moment to Eng
land to see what it has done there
Till few years ago it was the policy
of England to protect its own agrlcul-
turc with high tariff laws. When her
corn laws were repealed and her mar
kets opened for the grain of the world,
her farmers were thrown upon their
own resources and compelled to cult
vate better or be outdone. 1t was a
stimulus towards good farming. They
have sought for the best qualities OF
stock, grains, vegetables and fruit
They have enriched their soil with the
best fertilizers. They have plowed
deep, irrigated well, arc now under
draining, and in a few days will make
the most Of the arabic land of England
a garden. The larger agriculturallsts
use steam power instead of stationary
horse power, which greatly reduces
their labors With labor-saving ma
chimes to relieve muscle, and the high
culture now everywhere prevailing
the English agriculturalist has got
along as we'll without the corn laws as
he did with them.
The same happy results of improv-
ed farming are visible in this country,
though perhaps not so clearly. Wit
ness the results of labor-saving ma
chinery, the improvement in fruit,
stock, and fertilization. What may
we not expect when the whole mind
OF the American farmer is awakened
to all the improvements of the age
when every farmer becomes thinker
and makes his head help his hands
when steam power shall take the place
of much horse power; when the best
minds shall be employed in develop
ing the resources Of the soil, in enrich
ing and beautifying the earth for the
benefit of mankind7 In this day every
farmer should become an experiment
or, or student in his profession, to find
out the best way to make his head
help his hands. ,.,
In olden times farming was little
less than toll; strain ofsincws,a bow
ing of the back to the burden of a
drudge. Now, mind comes in to help
the muscle. Improved farming is far
ming a great deal more withthe mind
than with the hands; it is making the
mind lead in the work. The hands
should not be idle. They were made
to work. But the mind isthe guide
and must in the end rule. We look
with joyful anticipation to the time
when farmers shall be the most intel
ligent and honored portion of Ameri-
can society; when farm.homes shall be
the abodes of refinement, taste and sci
ence, and all that embruishes and
dignifies human life.
LAUGHrER.-We can't endure per-
son who never laughs, or who thinks
IL a violation of the rules Of prOprietY