New-York tribune., 1869-01-15
THE FAPuEFS JANUARY.

| TIE FARMERS JANUARY
In four-ffths of the Republic the frost does
not allow of field operations during any part
of this month. In the old-time calendar OF the
Northern farmer January was consumed III
! chopping wood, fodderng cattle thrashlng, and
sleigh-riding. If labor-saving machines have
| abridged these tolls, if he buys his fuel by the
| tun and his grain is thrashcd by horsepower
| in September the farmer has more leisure in
| January for a mode of activity as important
| as chOpping, or thrashing, OF fodder-cuttng-
an activity without which the industries of the
! fail the AK and the sled sink into aimless and
| thriftless drudgery. There is wise and ele-
| mental order in the farmers business. Ills
! work runs in the eternal grooves OF Nature,
and he thus becomes not like the artisan,
| spoke in a wheel, but a segment III the great
| cycle of the seasons. January is the month for
combinations; 1t is the farmers set time for
sound thinking. The surface on which he OPP
crates is locked from all the strokes of his in
dustry; he has garnered in and marketed most
of the fruits of 1868. In February he will map
out operations on the farm for 1869, deciding
where his corn must be planted on which
field potatoes; where the sheep shall range
whether he will now or pasture the twelve
acre lot; whether he will raise any tobacco this
year. But in January his thoughts may take
wider lange; and while the slcigh-bells of New
Year festivities are jingling past his door. while
the crisp snow grinds under the runner of the
heavily laden sled, and the water that is
! poured upon the grind-stone cases it with ice,
| let the farmer give a chair 10y his freside to
| his editorial friend and confer with him. If
we give Generalities we promise they shall not
be glittering generaities."
| I. Agricultural science is more honored and
| better cultivated in America now than it ever
! was before. In many of the States the legs-
| lation of 1862 has eliminated in Colleges with,
! in some cases, magnificent endowments and
! abundant apparatus for the study of rustic
| science in all its branches. The papers that
! give sound teaching in agriculture have long
| subscription lists. Books on special branches
| of farming have large sales. Men who are be-
| lieved TO know great deal on certain rural
topics are sought as orators at fairs and lectur
ers before evening audiences. All this auglrs
well. The prosperity Of a nation is assured
when these homcly. solid topics engross large
measure of the attention they deserve.
2. With a rev olution in the labor system over
ties for development of resources, marshall
! ing Of latent powers, restoration OF lost
fertility, the application of fresh vigor. i'm
proved machines, and a sound system of rota-
ton and tillage to many millions of acres. The
difficulty of connecting true and sound sys-
TEN of agriculture with enforced and unpaid
| labor was intrinsic and insurmountable. Slavery
demanded ignorance in the laborer. The slave
could be employed to advantage in such work
only as reQuiredEthe least knowledge and the
lowest skill. IIenceE the nature of things the
| system abused and exhausted the soil as much
as it did humanity. The system is dead, and
with it all reasons for a low and false system
throughout the South. Thousands and tens of
thousands who read this column have every
| Winter calculated the great advantage that
farmer enjoys who can plow every month in
the year. whose sheep and young cattle can
winter themselves; whose peas bloom in Feb
ruary, and who can go to his garden every
week in the year for his cabbage, his celery,
and his lettuce who sees
| -" the rose in crimson glory
| Blossom all the Winter time"
| Why eke ont scanty livelihood from frozen
| and grudging acres when broad, sunny lands in