The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1867-02-14

WRITTEN foH THE AAEhloAAfFAH n AAA1s III
Some years ago the editor of amost
widely known American magazine yis1
tied the New York State Fair, and at
the conclusion of an article thereupon,
he remarked :-''The farmers, as a class,
are not the cultivated men they should
be. As a'class they are less instructed
in their pursuits than any other class,
although there is no calling in which
intelligence is of more direct value.
They are foolishly Jealous Of books and
fbook-farmiHg,' declaring farmeEon
learn only by experience" Suppose .
doctor, or lawyer, were to commence
business after merely going through the
routine of attendance at the office Of
another older member of his profsssiony
and to have nothing more than the
experience of what be has seen and
heard, would even a farmer who ignores
''book learning consider him as we'll
qualified to undertake an impogtant
case as one who IN addition to hisoMn
experience, had, by reading and study
acquired a knowledge of the experience
of othePsf
or late years, perhaps, this prejudice
against ''book-learniug, y lie. Z ACQUIRING
the results of the experience Of ptherag
has, owing to the persistent efforts Of
an enlightened few, somewhat abated.
Yet, from actual experience in visiting
at farm hohses, / can safelyasay that
there is in many sections, not one 10
J fifty, who takes an agricultural paper,
or is ambitious to do more than 20
! through the same regular aud nnEaried
routine of drudgery year after year.
, content if he can make both ends meet,
| and trusting to luck if be chances to do
better. Many farmers no doubt take a
: political journal Of some stripe or other,
, and fancy that having done SO, they
} need do no more Does the dgetorsor
! lawyer, &c.,, remain content TO staEd
/ still after having acquired knowledge
of his professionf No. He knows
, we'll that if he did not continue TO ac-
Z quire a knowledge of all the improves
t ments and changes going ON BY means
of books and periodicals specially de-
e voted to his profession, he would grad
ually fall behind and be unableto make
! his living. There fnoJqnestion jbnt
= that farmer who takes one or more
! agricultural papers and reads them, ia
b the better for it by more than Ten times
!, the actual cost of the paper 10 him. and
F; not only, so, but he also exercises &
e beneficial influence through it, on his
|, family, his Heighbors, and his country.
3 -oIt is a fact that a v6fyala1gs proper
y ton of the subscribers TO our agrlcultur,
d al papers are found among the better
d class of mechanics, traders, and pro,
L fessionional men, in the cities, towns,
IS and villages, whose ambition lis TO seml
J, day possessed Of afarm or exei
: few acres of land, and such men, not
h withstanding their want of actual ex
o perience, generally make better. farmer
than those Who. have been all llltheif i've
,s on a. farm. hut who are content Sto FOL
it low the beaten track Of their folefathers
m and remain in Ignorance Of the expert
ence of Others, and the improvement
t, continually going on. Let every far
X mer who has dollar, subscribe at ono
d for some agriculturaTipaper, and be wi
N never afterwards be content to be Mith
in out one, and himself, his family, and hi
a farm, will gradually but surely shol
ar signs of Improvement, and bis prohl
y become larger in proportion otos5th
ne knowledge acquired through reading
r the experience Of others. tas sia
nd l.-l.'fy - v-r.1 l.i.r.f giih ff5f Is ssee IA