Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1857-03-25
farmers 4tpartment.
WHY Is THE FARMER Disseminated.

tii11c w tAc pedSctu1 SllIaSSc eiiu tuo'luiIt W
rural life. The tradesman and artizan, wea.
ry of their confinement, long for wider
field of action, while the merchant, harassed
by the exposure of his property to the tickle
elements, and the danger to those who go
down to the sea in ships. sees in the distance
the evening of his days embellished by the
comforts clustering around home in the
country. Others possess the taste for q
home on the farm from early youth, and
when separated from it, are ever elevating
the old root:trec and the happy haunts Of
childhood above all the pomp and glitter of
cities, and the trappings of fashionable life.
For us, the farm has ever had this charm,
and its implements are familiar to our hands,
and the opinions We express have been form
ed on the .tatrm, while engaged in its labors
and enjoying its pleasures. We look back
to its renovated precincts with as much
tender solicitudc as does the graduate 10 his
beloved alma mater. and live over our youth
again in the recollection of its delightful la
bors, scenes and rccrcations. But since
those times, great changes have taken place
in the modes Of cultivating the soil, US in
most of the business men pursue.
Facilities in printing and publishing have
kept pace with other Improvements of the
age. The exact experiments of the scholar,
the accurate observations of the farmer,
dissertations, pamphlets and newspapers
have been multiplied without number,
throug h the magic power of the press. In
these have been discussed the manual opcr-
ations Of the farm the blowing, planting.
haying, draining. subsoiling, and nature Of
the soils; and, although much may well be
said upon each Of these fruitful topics, We
shall not occupy space with more than
casual reference to any of them.
1t was once supposed that the profits of
the farm, and the beauty Of the homestead,
depended upon the hands, alone That er-
ror has had its day, wrought its evil and de-
parted, We trust, never to return. A better
opinion now prevails, that labor, to be pro.
fitable, must be guided by Intelligence, and
it is Of the importance Of that intelligence
that we propose to speak.
On the rugged mountains and beautifully
sweeping wales of New Eng!and-on the
broad prairies of the West, and the sunny
acres Of the South, the same causes are op.
Grating against all earnest and hearty love
of rural life, and its occupations.
We assume the fact, that great discomfort
exists in relation to that life; that young
men and young women are dissatisfied with
the employmcnts Of the farm, and are seek
ing in speculative schemes that almcnt for
the mind, which they have failed to>lind in
rural occupations, and quiet home.
If we can suggest a remedy for this evil,
we shall deem it of more importance than
to throw new light on the common business
Of the fields, and the barn, or to enforce
any principal Of vegetable or animal exis.
tance.
Large numbers commence farming, with.
out other capital than their own physical
force, directed by their native good sense.
They succeed in establishing pleasant
home, and i'll educating and rearing a fami-
ly, through long and patient industry, and
careful economy; and this is the manner in
which those engaged in mercantile affairs,
who have become wealthy, have acquired
that wealth; by uninterrupted effort, both
in acquiring and saving And the cases are
somewhat rare. where the young farmer of
good health and habits, fails of establishing
an attractive home, and acquiring Il compe-
tence; while it has been assertaincd that
out of every one hundred who have entered
upon mercantile pursuits in the largest city
of New England, upwards of ninety have
failed. The startling but well authenticated
fact. should have an influence on young
men cmbarking in business, and upon young
women, too, about making alliances which
can only end with life for they are equally
interested in the welfare and happiness of
the family.
Farm work requires capital in coin, in
talents, and in muscle and sinew, as well as
in merchandising and navigating the ships of
commerce. When this capital is invested,
farm.work is no more labor of drudgery
than any other-it is not half so much so.
If this be drudgery, what shall we call the
confinement of the law-ofice and the court
room, or the judges bench? What the
dull routine of the merchants duties behind
the counter, with his daily liability to pro-
tested notes and bankruptcy? What the
daily task Of the mechanic, happy if relcas-
ed after ten hours toll, or that of opera.
tors in the cotton-mill, summoned by bell
and encascd i'll codes Of regulations? No
it is not the employment of the fields
that is drugery-it is the mans mind that
is enslaved. That mind does not spring
from the, sod, buoyant with life and in
telligence, searching and inquiring into the
wonderful operations above, beneath and
around him.
Let him turn his thoughts to Chemistry
in its relation to his employment, and he
will soon be convinced, that no man has vet
lived long enough to understand the strange
yet beautiful operations constantly carried
on in his trees plants flowers and animals.
The. lawyer is tied to his terms, and the
merchant to his counter; the physician to
his nevcr-ceasing horse-mill rounds, the cIer-
gyman to his parish and the mechanic to
his bench. But the farmer brcathes the
free winds of heaven on his hills, and drinks
from the crystal springs that flow through
his valleys. The first beams of the morn.
ing sun touch his brow amid the waving
grain of his garnished fields, while he bathes
his feet in the cold dews that have gathered
upon the bending grass. He reclincs at
noon in the shade of his old trees, and walks
among his springing corn, or profits by the
ri rf;, orifinisn,c of his wifi, on1 ob;l,Jrop