The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1866-11-23

In,ere.,ing 70 fnrmcr..

thousands OF farmers who feel tnhJ
they are degraded because they iol-
low the plow. They look with en-
vious eyes at the professional man,
the merchant and the mechanic
With a view TO correct this mistake,
we propose to state a few facts. We
do not, however, expect to write any
thing new to wellinforned farmers {;
but to remind them of what they al
ready know, or ought to know from
expericnce or observation in their
business. We say to them, first,
then, for the present, lay aside your
prejudice against "Book- farming
or newspaper advice. We often hear
farmers say, after reading an article
on farming, "my experience is better
than theory" Now, we beg leave to
say, that farming is science, aid to
pursue it successfully, requires quail
itications not more easily obtained
than those of the so called learned
professions. And one great reason
why so many farmers think farming
is degrading, is, they make no at
tempt to improve, but follow up the
old routine, with failure after failure,
and then say, alarming is hard liie."
If the useless labor that is performed
by this class of farmers in their mis-.
takes, was expended in studying and
following scientific rules, farming
would be a delight to them. Every
good farmer is more or less chem
ist, whether he knows 1t or not
And now, farmers of Hancock coun.
w, look at these few facts, and for
your own, and children's sakes, fol.
low out the suggestions they con.
tain: '
First-The general face of the
country is level. There, are, how
ever, ridges and streams. Much o.
the land is too wet for shccessfu
general farming. Your wheat free
zes out and your corn dSowns out
For the past two years, you have al
most lost faith in your farm from
this cause. ... ...... ...t--...... .....,.
But oh, what depth and richness o
soil you have! Alluvial, sandy.loan
or gravel. Vegetable mould, how
deep! Richness enough to yielt
more than your barns could contain
Ah, but this freezing and drown
ing is awful. And so it will Away:
be until you remedy it. "What!
you exclaim, scan l help that?'--
Yes, sirs, you can. "How2 Howl'
Why, in good part, by draining
The channels are already partly
scooped out to carry on ,uo--..r-.
abundant water. II you will opel
the luerals, the Blanchard, and 9th
er natural bitches, will do the job TO
you. There is, perhaps, not farm
in the county, that would not be ben
; Gifted by artificial drainage. Thel
you should begin at once to drain OF
the excess of water. Better sell
few acres of your halfswamp farm
and lay out the money in ditchin
, and draining the balance, than t
doat and splash the rest of your life
and get only half crops. No won
der your grain freezes and browns
, Has not the experience of the las
two years set you to thinking? No'
just turn engineer for few hours
. and walk out over your farm, locat
in your mind the place for your BIZ
, ditch, trace out the laterals, and the
say, "it shall be done" And whel
you and the boys get a leisure day
take the team, plow and scrapei
, and spades and hoes, and astonis
yourselves and neighbors with til
amount of ditching you do. Their
is many day in which you can ear
D fifty dollars at this. There is an out
! let somewhere, and you eau find it
s you try. And somebody in thi
county ought to start tile factory
Tile draining pays immensely
More than half of you laugh incred
ulously at that, don't you? Wei
let us think moment. When 20
hang kettles on to heat water 70
butchering, suppose you build th
! fire above them instead of unde
. them. / guess you won't scald you
porkers in a hurry. Well, now, sir
your land is saturated, and even COY
q cred with water in places, and 500
1t will freeze, and perhaps remaiI
> frozen till spring. Then the sun ha
to thaw q foot or two of ice do,oa
oard, and dry up the water dOtoH
,0a,d, before You can plow a furrow
But il you had the big ditch, an,