Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1862-02-13
4gritut1raI department.
Time-The Farmers Treasure.

q
There is no employment better adapted to
secure the improvement Of ones time, particu
larly of those fragments which are so often IN
improved than that of the farmer. There are
many occupations in which time is necessarily
lost to the occupation itself, because of hin.
drances which, in stopping one part stop all
There are intervals in most persons business
which cannot be filled up with any thing per
tanning to the business itself, because the main
thing to be done is itself almost the only thing
1t is true that no man, whatever his occupa
tion, need waste any portion of time, however
small, for he can employ it in thousand things
which will promote his happiness and useful
ness, though not bearing directly upon bis main
object of pursuit. He can have always at hand
q; book, or subject of study to engage his
thoughts when they are temporarily released
from daily business. But there are few who
meHts, in the details of that which is emphati.
cally the business of their lives. The farmers
business is one of times aud seasons, and to ev-
cry thing in the farmers life there is time,
and for every time, every day in the year
there is something which not only can be done,
but must be done 1t will not do then for the
farmer of all men, to put off till tomorrow
what can be done to-day, for tomorrow will
certainly bring enough to be done. We have
heard farmers complain of this and say that
they were the only men who were drudges al
ways having something to do, while many 9th.
ers, if stopped in the prosecution of their daily
business, were stopped altogether, having no
incidental matters TO attend to, and therefore
had time for rest. This is far from being
true, aud many classes of persens as editors,
physicians, etc, never have an hour they can
call their own But if it were true, and so far
it is true, it shows clear advantage on the
part of the farmer. If the carpenter or the
mason is stopped for day or two in his work
he must lose the time, so far as his earnings
are concerned. And this is often a serious
loss, for though it is true he may improve the
time 10 study and other useful ways, yet it may
be that be can i'll afford the consequent dimi
mutton in his earnings. Yet it is very seldom
that he can turn his hand to anything else
with any profit. Generally the most that he
can do is to perform any little household jobs
which perhaps he might have had to hire an
other to Go, if he had been employed at his
own work
But the farmer can never be at a loss for
work adapted to the very time which the ne
cessity of discOntinuing some other work his
rendered vacant He has bat to step out of
his door, and cast his eye over his domain to
discover something to be attended to. 1t is
true if he is a careful man he will not see fenc-
es down, doors off their hinges, manure eyapor-
atiug in the sum- as he can see every dav in
the year upon the form of his neigh6or, who
has adopted the principle of never doing to-
day what can possibly be put off till tomor-
row But bis experienced eye will detect the
symptoms of decay, be will see where things
are just beginning to go wrong, as things are
constantly beginning to do in this world, and
he will remedy the matter at once. There is |
no greater mistake than to suppose that when
the farmer is preveRted by the weather from |
outdoor work he has nothing else to do.
He can always find something to do in the
barn, the stable, the granery, or the tool.shop
where be has laid up sCme nice seasoned hicko. |
ry, and ash for extra hoe handles, ax-he7es, |
teeth for rakes, oxyokes, &c, for it is very |
easy for him with few good tools to make
these things, and much better ones than be can
buy and then how much time is saved by
having such things ready when they are want
ed, so that important work may not be delay
ed by sending man on horseback three miles
to get new implement, or waiting half day
to have the old one mended A great deal of |
the farmers work is that of preparation, and |
these preparations are SO various that he may
easily choose his own time for any Of them.
In another important respect is Time the
farmers treasure He can, and in fact usual |
ly does, use the same time several times over. |
While he is cutting his hay his wheat is ripen-
ing while he is hauling his manure bis cattle |
are fattening while he is making his fences
his chestnut rails are growing. Nature, or
we would rather say, Providence, is all the time
doing his work for him. All be has to do is |
to " cut out work" for the rain and sun and |
atmosphere to do How ungrateful in him to
grumble if sometimes these powerful and be- |
Inefficient agents, in accomplishing other more
important purposes of the Almighty destroy
his crops Nor is there, notwithstanding what |
we have said, any man who has had more time
TO spare for social Intercourse and intellectual |
Improvement, than the farmer who makes it
point to let nothing get behind him. While |
other men, however industrious they may be,
find their business constantly making greater
demands upon them, he can at almost any time
with safety, leave his farm for few days
Things cannot GO very far wrong in that space
of time when they have so uniformly been
made to go right and his first business when
he returns will be to see if everything is right
Thus we contend that the farmer can, if he
will, make more of bis time than any other
man, not excepting a Wall-Street broker
Country Gentleman!
D6- The prize OF $40 offered by Orange
Judd, the publisher Of the American AgricuL