The Ebensburg Alleghanian. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1865-1871, 1869-08-19
The Farmers' Department.

THE PooR FARMER.-We saw the other
day in one of our exchanges, little para
graph with this heading, In which 1t was
Justly said that "poor farmer cannot con-
ceal the fact that be is poor farmer"
Nothing can be truer His work lies be-
fore the world Every passer can look
upon it and rec ord his judgment There
are his house, his barn, his out-buildlngs,
his implements, his horses and cattle. Ii
he is a poor farmer it will be seen IN all
these. His very house-y gard and barn
ward speak of his want of industry and
thrift, in clear language. YET there Is no
one more difficult to instruct or re'orm
than the man who is determined to pursue
his own wretched course, in the face OF
aIl his neighbors and the whole commupl-
~. And there are two reasons Tor II.
First. he loves the rum bottle aud II not
this. then he is naturally lazy and poor
devil generally. In either case he has no
future to live and work for; no pride or
sslf-respect. IF he is spoken TO on the
subject, he replies that he thinks his MODE
of managing his farm the best; he was
farmer bred, his father farmer before
him; and he has nothing to learn from
the iimcrack course of modern days, ny
which, though tho land may yield more,
the cost in making it do so Is tar more
than what he loses. As to his implements,
when thew are worn out, he may think
about getting others, but sees no use In
throwing tools away that answer well
enough. As to his house and garden,
they are the same his father had, and II
they were good enough for hIs father, "hat
right had he to complain!
He has little to send to market, and
that a kind neighbor takes and sells Tor
him. Ask him why he does not raise
more for marketing, aud he replies that 1t
does not paw the time and expense con-
sumed in going to market, the wear aud
tear of horses and wagons, come to more
than what can be made out of it. He has
reckoned it out and knows. Ii asked why
he does not substitute different variety
of corn, oats, or other grain, Tor that from
which he derives only half crop, ne re-
plies that he gets along we'll enough with
what he has, and it is adapted to his land
while new sorts may not be. ~
Everything is managed or mismanagec
in the same way. Look at the broker
shelvings of his hay wagon; his cart will
wooden linch-pin in one of the axles
the wheel barrow with one leg the roller
plows aud harrows exposed all the yea
round to the weather, and some OF then
still lying where they were last used; tn
gears tied up with twine; the barn-yar'
fence broken and the cattle roaming
shrough the meadows and tearing to piece
his souple OF poor hay-stacks; the hog
roofing up the orchard and eating up tn
roots Of the remaining grass; the fence /
front of the house blown over by the win
three or four months ago and still lyin
shere; the approach to the house tho
with mud coal-ashss, fat.stones or board
are to be seen. Everything indeed is !
keeping, aud however unpleasing and eve
painful it may be to others, aOd howeve
impossible it may seem to others that tn
poor farmer cannot but see it and deplor
it too, though helpless to improve, it
not so. He does not see it. lie viii nc
know it. He likes ii as 1t rs