The Buchanan County guardian. (Independence, Buchanan County, Iowa) 1858-1864, 1860-01-05
For the Guardian,


Mr.. EDITOR Since my last scribble
for your columns, what was then hope,
and seemingly long deferred" has now
become fruition and we have at II
doors the sound of the railroad whistle.
to the farmer as joyful as the voice of the
turtle in spring. For after the expert
ence of the two past years what could
more gladden. his heart than to be able to
come to the county seat, bringing the
fruit of 60 his sheaves'' with him, with
the certainty that he can realize the cash
and a fair market value, for all the pro-
ducts of his farm. Before there was an
uncertainty, when he hired labor to put
in a crop, whether, with a favoring sea-
son, he should be able TO raise money
enough from his produce in the fall to
pay off his help. But that day is now
past, and every farmer who has now en-
terprise enough to take a Dubuque or
Chicago paper, can know before he starts
from home, nearly as well as the speeu-
lator who is to buy his grain, whether it
is the time to buy or sell. No one can
afford to cultivate a farm without having
access, weekly, at least, to a good city,
and his OWn county, paper. While the
former keeps him advised of the stock
and grain market at the centres of trade,
the latter informs him the market value
of the lesser crop-such as vegetables,
the avails of the dairy, of the fowls, the
wood and the hay /; most of which are
generally consumed at the home market,
and serve as a sort of pin money" to
purchase the needfuls for the family.
Years, as days, alternate with san and
SHADE !; sometimes clouds obscuring the
sun from morn to even, and then anon a
incoming illumined with all the brilliance
of an orient sky. 1858 will long be re-
m%embered by the farmers Of Iowa as one
almost unbroken year of gloom. Like
the experience Of my servant job"
the elements from above and the consum-
ers who dwell beneath, all seemed to
conspire to prevent his realizing any
thing as the reward of his toll. The
spring of 1859 opened with sunny prom
Use, and the summers heat brought for
ward with unexampled rapidity the gold
en- wheat and the waving corn but the
first night of Autumn brought a frost AS
untimely as that which nipped the hopes
of the fallen Cardinal of Henry VIII,
reducing to a moiety the latter harvest.
But the increased facilities for transport
ing the surplus grain to the east, and the
active competition of the buyers, will
wake up every energy of the farmers of
this county, if | mistake not, and The
sun of 1860 will shine on more cultivat-
ed acres than Of any former season.
Then let the year be we'll begun by
promptly doing the appropriate duties Of
the month. AS | have said in a former
number, let the stock have the best of
attention and the warmes sheds the cir
cumstances will admit of. Let the wood
pile be duly replenished. equal for the
consumption of a coming year. not for
getting that dry wood to the printer is as
pleasant as it is economical for you to
draw 1t to him during the Shedding of
January. Thus while | venture to proph-
ecy of every farmer who promptly does
the appropriate duties of each successive
month, driving his work instead of hav-
ing his work driving him. a prosperous
and a happy season as a whole, | would
also kindly wish to each of my readers,
yea. TO humanity everywhere, a Happy
New Year. A. z.
January, 1869. Z