The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1867-08-03
farmers Column.
Tmprovomont in Farming.


Timothy II comb, Ia bis Rural Life, says
The improvements made In farming aud farm.
ing implements have not been made by farmers
themselves, but by outsiders mechanics aud
men Of seience-who have marvclled at the brain
less stupidity which toiled on IN its old track Of
unreasoning routine, and looked with suspicion
and encouragement upon innovations. The rea'
son why the farmer has not been foremost In i'm
proving the instruments and methods Of his own
business is, that bis mind has been untitled Tor
improvementby the excessive labofs OF his body.
A man whose whole vital energy 70 directed TO
the support Of muscle, has Of course, none 10 d.
rect 70 the support o. thought. man WHOSE
comes, AZ length, incapable Of mental excrtion
and cannot help ieeling that half the farmers In
the country establish insuperAble obstacles 10
their own improvement by their excessive toll
They are nothing more than the living machines
Of a calling which 30 far exhansts their vitality
that they have neither disposition nor power to
improve either themselves or their calling.
There Is no doubt about the fact that llfe
Whose whole energies are expended IN hard, 10.
Oily labor is such a life as God never intended
man should live.
81 am perfectly aware that am not revealing
pleasant truths. We are much In the habit OF
clarifying rural life, and PrAl.ing the in'elli.
gence and virtue Of rural populations and u
they believe us they cannot receive this with
pleasure. But the question which most interests
them Il not whether these statements are true. Il
the philosophy sound Does a severe and con.
siani tar on the muscular system Tepress mental
development aud tend 10 make life hard aud
homely and unattraciive? Is this the kind Of
lite generally which the American farmer leads
Is not the American farmer, generally, a man
who has sacrificed q free aud full mental develop
ment, and all his finer sensibilities and affections
and generous and genial family and social life
and the digni,ies aud tasteful proprieties Of a
well-appoinied home, to the support Of his mus
eles There are instances VI better life thanthis
among farmers, and should not have written
this " those instances had not proved that this
everlasting devotion 10 labor Is Unnecessary. There
are farmers who prosper in their calling and do
not become stolid-whose homes are the abodes
Of Refinement. whose waichword Is improvement,
and whose aim Il TO elevate their calling. II
there Is a man on earth whom honestly honor,
Il l. farmer who has broken away from his sla-
very TO labor, aud applied his mind to his soil
Mind must be the emancipation Of The farmer
Science. Intelligence, mAehinery-,hese must H.
berAie the bondman Of the soil from his long ala
VERY. When look back aud see what has been
done for farming within my brief memory am
full Of hope for the future. The plough, under
the hand Of science, has become new instrument.
The horse now hoes the corn. mows the grass,
rakes the hay, reaps, ihFeshes. and winnows the
wheat snd every year adds new machinery 10
The farmers stock. ~ supersede the clumsy i'm
PIGMENTS which once bound him 10 bis hard and
never ending toll When a farmer begins TO use
machinery and TO study the processes Of other
men. and 10 apply his mind TO farming 50 far as
he can make Il take the place Of muscle. then he
illaminaies bis calling with a new light. and lif,s
himself into the dignity Of man