Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1869-03-11
Bepartmsat.
BOOK FARMING.

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BOOK FARMING. ,-H
An Illinois farmer gives the following
excellent remarks to the Rural American
on the subject of book, practical and pro-
gressive farming:
"Why is it 50 many of our farmers, who
manifest good sense upon almost every
other subject, are ready to condemn book
farming? Itcertainly is not because sound
judgment disapproves it. They know very
we'll that the practical knowledge Of a thou
sand farmers, whether printed and publish
ed through the medium of an agricultural
paper, or in any other manner, is infinitely
more valuable than the experience Of SIN
gle individual, no matter how abundant his
facilities may be for the acquisition of
knowledge. Their good sense teaches them
that there is no other way in which agri-
cultural knowledge, or any other lntelli-
gence, can be as widely and rapidly dissem.
mated as through the medium Of public
journals. Agriculture is a science as diff
cult in its perfect acquisition as almost any
science you can mention, and yet some
farmers, I am sorry to soy, who have new
er enjoyed the advantages Of an education
to any extent, claim to possess upon this
subject knowledge far superior to that OF
the man who enjoys, through the medium
of the best agricultural journals of the day,
the benefit of the opinions, practice and
experience of the most intelligent agricul:
turists of the whole country, and the world
at large. The farmer who once subscribes
for an agricultural paper, will never again
be without one. He cannot afford to do
without one, and the more he has the more
he wants. 1t is not so much the price Of
subscription which prevents him from sub
scribing for an agricultural paper, as it is
the dread of removing some old landmark
set up by his ancestors perhaps, and which
he thinks, will guide him in future, as it did
them in the past. He does not like to be,
lieve that there is anything to be done about
farm, which he does not know how to do,
and that he does not know everything
which ought to be done, or can be done
proftably on farm. He is afraid that
people will think he is governed BY the ed
itor of some agricultural paper, while, in
fact, he is acquiring the knowledge Of per.
haps ten thousand farmers, in different
portions of the country. He cannot tole
rate any innovations upon the old plan o!
farming, especially if it has been suggested
by an editor, as he is afraid his neighbors
as ignorant perhaps as he is, will laugh al
him. As his father plowed, and sowed
and reaped, and moved, so must he do. Toe
proud, in his ignorance, to think that he
should be taught by an editor how to con
duct his farm properly and pro6tably.-
Never mind, old man, that pride must yielc
sooner or later. The boys are growing up
and if you are proof against all agricultu
raj improvements, they are not. They be-
lieve in progressing with the age. They
are anxious to know what crops are most
profitable for farmer to raise-what crops
are best adapted to their hand, and how te
cultivate their crops and treat their land
They want to know what kind of stock
makes the best return to the capital and
labor expended upon it. They know there
is vast difference between the fruits which
their father raises upon the old Seeding
trees scattered around the fields, and the
nice grated fruit upon the nice thrifty trees
in the we'll cared for orchard of their neigh
Dor who takes an agricultural paper and who
sells his apples for fifty cents or dollar
bushel readily, while they cannot sell theirs
at all, and are compelled to make them into
cider or give them to the hogs, or let them
rot on the ground. / tell you to look out
for the boys! They are not satisfied ane
will have their own way by and by. Ano
now boys, the first money you get to spare
send to the editor of some good agricuitu'
raj paper, and if you are not satisf ed at the
end of the year, just let us know il"