The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1869-12-18
How to Keep Our Boys on the Farm.

81 don't see, for my part, what this
country's coming to- exclaimed my neigh
Dor as he dropped in on Monday evening;
so many of the best boys are quitting the
farms. Why, when l was boy he pro,
coded, warming up with the recollection,
sit was considered religious duty for one
of the sons in every family to succeed to
the homestead of his father; and the stead
lest of his brothers pursued the same hon.
orable calling. Now and then, promising
youth adopted a profession; but, as a rule,
not to be farmer was thought about
equivalent to being vagrant. Now how
is it? Why, bless me! three quarters of
our boys are derscrting the shelter Of the
farm roofs, leaving their fathers acres to
more patient plodders from Ireland ard
Germany and eagerly seeking refuge in the
strange city. What can have got into
them?'
Such a state Of things is surely to be dc
plored. The prosperity of a nation always
depends on tho thrift and happiness of its
rural people. The sources of this dissatis-
faction ought to be removed. AS they are
numerous SO is the remedy complex.
The homestead must be made more dttrac-
tire.-A thrifty farmers boys generally see
that their fathers house is built more care
!essly and kept more slatternly than that of
the city merchant. Their first unconscious
inference is that fine houses are the exclusive
productof the city; their next deduction
''that's the place to live"
What is the picture which they too often
leave behind when they take their flight ?
A house implanted and without blinds; a
barn rickety and fastening to decay; rheu-
matte fences, offering kindly passage to
hungry horses and filthy, bony cows; in
the foreground obtrusive piles of neglected
tools, wagon-wheels, old iron, and infinite
rubbish; in the background, dreary waste
of skinned and plundered fields. Without
any expense, except little time and taste,
our farmers homes can be embellished and
rendered delightful and only so can the
best youths Of this generation be induced
to remain in the homesteads of their faith
ers.
Farmers must seek a htgher social train
ing.-A few of the best-eduoated and cul,
tured men of America are farmers, and
their studieus sons are grazing the same
occupation. But such are small proper
ton of the whole.
"The fault, dear Brut,ls, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves that we are underlings.'
Farmers ought, rs class, to cultivate
better manners in parlor, kitchen, and field
at iire-sde and table. Urbanity and rus
ITCHY originally meant merely city life and
country life: it is not by accident that these
words have come to signify polteness and
can we acquire polish, and, by lack of this
undervalue the affable manners which
mark the gentleman. Integrity and benev-
olenee are not a guatantee Of politeness;
there must be added to these intercourse
with well-bred people.
To recover what We have lost, or gain
what we have missed, let us seek to con-
struct society about us, to encourage
neighborhood gatherings, farmers clubs,
agricultural societies, and evening parties
of every innocent kind, that may bring us
in contact with others. To this end let us
try cooperative farming-thousand fly to
the city because they wish to " see folks. :"
TO this end ALSO we can, if we will, learn
from our wives, for they are often better
read and usually better-mannered than we.
Pr0gressage farming must be substituted for
routine .farnsing.-Abolish the plodding
system; break up traditional routine, and
fhn will CIR ia 70 e,
farming does not mean the adoption of
fancy theories; it means, learning from the
laws of Nature, and the experience of other
practical farmers, how to exchange bad
habits of husbandry for better ones.
Mind governs matter; and no art or pro-
fession demands for its perfect development
SO much general and special information,
and so wide range of science, as does the
tilling of the soil. Yet agriculture, as
commonly practised, is to-day behind every
other art. Farmers have studied less to
master their calling than have the members
of any other trade. How many thousands
there are, in every State, who never see an
agricultural journal or book! Such farm
ers lack new ideas more than they lack new
implements. Their minds need subsoiling
more than their grounds!
To make farming attractive to our boys,
ouS hugely VI IOuIl1C muSt De
given up, and the scientific Why must be
taught. This is the day of transition
between muscle and mind, between Drawn
and brain. Thought is being introduced
as new lever to relieue the elbow.
Inventive genius has strewn over single
county of Ohio more agricultural machinery
than could be found in the whole West
few years ago; and it is changing the whole
character of farming as an occupation
One intelligent man now can do more than
stupid hundred, and derive from it more
pleasure and profit. Farm machinery is
not only labor-saving; it is consequently
civilizing, because it saves human toll, it
tends to elevate and refine our people.
Progressive agriculture carries blessing
to the future. The progressive farmer
builds tastful and commodious dwellings,
with fuel and water convenient, and every
accessory that can Tighten the good-wife's
toll; he adorns his grounds from time to
time with shrubs and flowers; he gratis
pippins and greetings on the native stock,
sets out new orchards and takes care of old
ones; he obtains the. handiest tools and
houses them; he builds stalls for cattle, and
raises roots and steams fodder to feed them.
He adapts the soil to the needs of vegeta-
BILE life; if wet he drains; if light or sterile,
he turns under clover, and mixes more te-
nacious soil; if sour and cold, he gives
lime; and he almost always ploughs deeply
and manures literally.
He teaches his sons not only how to
pillow, but why to plow; not only how to
manure, but what is the effect of various
fertilizers; not only what will thrive best
on given soil, but the reason for it; not
only how to drain and irrigate, but why
because if they know the Why they won't
forget the How. Thus he turns their ewes
frem their State capital to their own town
ship, school district, home, and cultivates
that local patriotism which is the founda-
ton Of the nations strength. Such farm