The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1863-08-01
FARMERS DEPARTMENT.



Farmers, like other people, improve as
they go along; if not, they are drags upon
their neighbOrs, an injury to themselves, and
a disgrace generally.
But there is improvement, generally.
Some improve more than others. Why is
this? Simply because they avail themselves
of the means of improvement. This is very
simple, and no one will dispute it.
But what are the improvements? Need
it be asked The improvements are, Sim
ply knowledge of farming. Where is this
obtained Il is obtained from the more
Intelligent farmers, who communicate their
experience. They communicate it in vari-
GUS ways: by example, by conversation, by
reports in agricultural newspapers.
By example and conversation but few
can be profited; by reports in agricultural
papers, as many as read those papers,
Hence the advantage of an agricultural
journal.
A few papers in England have done more
IN this way in disseminating knowledge.
than all other means together. So in this
country. Not that there is any special vir-
tue in papers as papers; but the expe
rience of farmers is here given to the
world
Give a nation reading, aud then keep
them ignorant if you can-especially If the
information is beneficial to the pocket For
instance, man tells another, as is often
done in agricultural newspapers-that it is
q great saving Of money to feed only as
much fodder as cattle will eat, and not throw
1t on the ground to be trodden in the mud,
as so many barnyards are wet.
An exchange paper says: "The farmer
who feeds out fifty tons of hay in a winter,
wastes annually five to ten tons, worth at a
moderate price from fifty to hundred dol
dred dollars. Two or three days. labor, and
Two or three dollars worth of lumber or
poles, would furnish good feeding racks,
and entirely prevent the waste.''
Again, your apple trees are neglected
You get little and wretched fruit, and bushy
and matted tops; and soon your trees die.
L his IS sheerly FROM neglect. The result
is, you lose in the am ount of your apples,
and In the quality-and, you lose your trees.
Have you ever reckoned how much loss this
is Of course you have not. And as the
dollars were never in your pocket, so you
don't feel their loss. But, do you deny the
loss No, no more than in the case of the
fodder. The facts are clear enough. So
you say-because it would be foolish to say
differently, as the case is clear to any one.
But the amount Of the injury is not under
stood; and the loss has not come out of your
pocket book. And therefore the careless
man continues. Not all 1: many people avail
themselves of what is so evidently benefit.
Hence our Improvement.
But does it take an agricultural paper to
tell this always? Not necessarily. There
are some shrew /, careful farmers, who re-
fleet. They think the mstter-any and ev-
cry matter-over, and in doing this they see
what there is of it, and then they see where
the lack is, and where the Improvement is
TO be made. Here is where the improve
ment starts. Is must start somewhere, and
this is the best way. 1t is not the best thing
to be always dependent upon Others; others,
however, viii greatly aid us. "Help one
another" is a good motto.
One practical hint. On the prairies. where
the wind is severe, there must be shelter for
cattle in winter, or one thing will take place,
and that thing can only be remedied By
building a shelter, if it is no more than a
wind bl eak, which requires but few posts
and few more boards. But what is II that
is TO be remedied ? The consuming Of flesh
By cold. The ''crItter" that shivers, suf-
fers; and when it suffers, it loses flesh.
This, through the whole winter, will make
quite a sum, which little trouble and ex
pense will remedy. The thing has beer
all tested, and by the best men, Valley
Farmer.