Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1861-08-26
Good and Bad Farming-How to Read Pa.
pers.

From the Country Gentleman and Cultivator. ]
Messrs. Editors II want to ask you ant
your readers one question, viz: If success il
farming is sounded forth through the press al
| over the land, should not want of success b,
| also published, that the world might know
there is difference between good and poo
farming?
IfMr. A. writes that his neighbor, Mr.. B.
has killed pig ten months old that weighed
395 pounds when dressed, would il not be righ
| for him also to state that another neighbol
killed three hogs eighteen months old thai
| only averaged $50 pounds each.
If one man, by proper manuring. draining
| and lining, succeeds in raising 300 bushels o.
| good wheat on ten acres of land, and it goes
the rounds OF the papers, ought not the same
papers to state that another man in the same
town only harvested SO bushels of good wheat
from the same number Of acres.
few years ago Mr.. B. reared two fine
Devon calves, for which he refused 500 each
when one year old. One of his neighbor.
| reared FIVE the same season. But he was one
Of that class of farmers that thought calves did
not need any grain, and could take care oi
themselves, so before the next spring three OF
the five died, "a natural death suppose;) the
other two being rather tough lived 1t through
and were sold when two years and q half Old
for the sum of $50. Now if farmer should
hear only one side of the story be would think
that stock raising was profitable business; but
when he read the other side he would be ant
to come to the conclusion that it did not pay
Palermo, OsDegO Co, ". Y. ]. L. J.
REMARKS.
In the spirit Of our correspondent, we might
ask =" If we put it on record that Flora
Temple trots her mile in 2:34, or that Licking.
ton achieves four mile heat in 7:I9,-w6y
should We not also mention that Tom OF
jerry or 'Old Whitley with the utmost ex.
ertion cannot make more than six miles an
hour,-in order that the world might know
there is difference between fast and slow
horses! If We write the biographies of some
sf our great men, why should we not also
publish those Of all our neighbors the little
men,-in order that the world might know
there is a difference between good and poor
mlnds-between energy and success in the pur-
suit OF calling, and slothfulness and failure
between an example that is worthy to be fol-
lowed, and one that is only to be shunned?"
The very fact of selecting instances of ex-
perience for special notice by publication, takes
1t for granted that there is something in tn EN-
exceptional and peculiar. Hence if it was an
everyday occurrence to have pig ''dress 395
lbs. at 10 mos. old, )" BIS obtaining this result
would never have reached our ears; inasmuch
as there is nothing uncommOnly remarkable
in killing pig that weighs $50 lbs at a year
and half, there can be no possible object in
communicating that fact to mankind But we
who hear OF b. g success, also hear either what
kind of pig he selects, or how he manages il,
and the next time we are renewing our swine
stock, We look more carefully at the "point ts''
OF the brutes, and seek those which pertain to
making of flesh; or, if we learn, as we probably
shall, that B. cooked the food his pig ate, and
kept it in decent state of neatness, as a
Christian pig should be kept, and otherwise
was peculiarly fortunate in his treatment of il
We are encouraged to ego and do likewise'
with our own pOrkers-hoping therefrom to
obtain results similarly worthy of public atten-
ton.
Again: If 300 bushels of wheat can be
grown on ten acres of land, the fact is an impor-
tant one for farmers to be fatkky conrtnce Of
in the first place; and, in the second place, it
is still more important for them to find out horc
to do a.. And if the "other man" only gets
'9S bushels from the same surface" we think
that fact equally worthy of going on record, in
order that we may all learn show NOT to do
it. But no man is so likely to expose the
series OF blunders by which he has been rem
dered extremely "unfOrtunate' as he is to
explain the skillful draining, Inning" &C.,
which have combined to put him in sgood
luck" and since, as general rule, human
nature inclines sadly to negligence and imper-
fection, the reasons of failure are for the most
part well understood, at least by every body
except the most c0ncerned-consequently
every man has an abundance Of examples of
this kind, on all the farms around him, to
study into, and it becomes the more necessary
to call his attention to good examples, to en-
courage him to try and initiate them, and
to point the way, if possible, to their success
full imitation.
Our correspondents last paragraph induces
US to allude to what is an error too often com.
mitted by the readers Of agricultural papers
namely, disregard of the circumstances that
are tnrotrc6. He imagines the case of q
farmers concluding that "stock raising is a
profitable business, simply because he reads
that one man, with two devon calves that
seem to have been particularly 'sine" ones,
and to have received the best Of care, was re-
paid for his exertions. Therefore, he argues
calves which are not DeUonS, nor yet fine mol
yet hGlf:fed, will also ''pay; and, acting upon
this conclusion" he subsequently finds that
his premises were wrong somewhere, and per.
haps fails to perceive whether it was the story
about the DeVons, or his toay of applying IT.
that was really at fault.
Hence We come to our "conclusion''-
is, that Agricultural papers, carefully read
are continually afOrding examples which every
farmer should strive to follow, and, cline upoI
line, and precept upon precept," pointing ou
to him the path of improvement and progress
Let "success in farming be sounded FORTH" il
Is precisely what we want-what our reader,
want, to get at, the more of il the better If tn.
''want of success" is sufficiently remarkabl,
for any peculiarity that may attend it, to be Of
service as beacon, to others, of shoals anC
quicksands they may thus be warned to avoid
let us have that also-fairly told and frankl,
ascribed to the proper causes. But do no
load us down with stories Of any kind simply
to show that "there is a difference betweei
| what II good and what is bad, for that fact i
4 suppOsed To haye heen amnIv damonatratad a.