Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-10-20
FARM AND GARDEN.


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MORE KNOWLEDGE rem FARMERS.
Whatever stimulates thought, other things
being equal, induces thrift. An unthink-
ing farmer cannot be prosperous, because
without thought there can be no method,
and without method there can be no sue
cess on the farm. Reading suggests subjects
of thought and this, added to the practical
skill of the farmer, often produces valuable
results. 1t is only the uneducated and those
who do not read that decry agricultural
journals and agricultural works, and of
course, are ignorant of what they condemn.
Their judgment in the matter is worth
nothing, because it does not rest upon COM
petent knowledge. A farmer is often snc-
cessful though he may not read, but it does
not follow that he does not think. Such a one
might have been stu more successful had
his horizon of thought been enlarged by
systematic course of reading. Every man
feels instinctiyely that the greater the
amount of knowledge he can bring to bear
on bis business, the greater viii be bis sue
cess, provided, the same exertion is used
in the one case as in the other. 1t is absurd
to say that it is a disadvantage to ones
business to learn an he can about his bust
ness, and yet there are many persons who
maintain that reading about farming is Of
no profit, though the same persons win ask
and follow the advice of competent farmers
in their own neighbouhoods. In other
words, according to them, the advice is
good if communicated orally, but if
conveyed through a newspaper it Is
worthless. This unreasoning and senseless
prejudice, we are glad to know, is rapidly
passing away and many men who, ten years
ago, felt an opposition to, and spake in de-
rision of, agricultural works are now the
most ardent supporters Of them. As the
light of knowledge advances, the clouds of
ignorance, error and prejudice are dispelled,
and science with its overwhelming and
eyer-varying horizon throws forth light
upon every department of human industry,
and most of all upon the business of agri-
culture. Within the past thirty years il mas
advanced from an ignoble art TO a dignified
science, and farmers should feel and know
and appreciate that in all those movements,
1t magnifes their calling and elevates them
in social influence, and advances them in
material prosperity. The greatest enemy to
the farmer is the farmer himself. Were he
to show an eagerness and anxiety for
the elevation of his vocation, it
would soon rank with the so-called
learned professions, and the vocation would
be regarded by the mass of minkind as
distinct from the business of a mere labor
er as that of lawyer from lawyers clerk,
or that of physician from a mere apoth-
ecary. No occupation is so well calculated
to keep in equilibrium all the powers of the
mind and body. 1t calls forth the most
varied qualities; patience, care and diligence;
zeal, industry and economy; tact and skill
to direct and manage-no faculty Of the
intellect or power of muscle or feeling Of
the heart but what is brought into requisi-
ton by the successful farmer. Deep sci
ence and plant art must unite in him. He
must not only know how to direct, but he
must know how to execute. Let them
train and prepare themselves by increased
knowledge for the brilliant future that lies
open before them, and take that position
which the God of Nature intended for
them.
Agriculture is the foundation of all the
arts of civilization, the support of COM
merce, the grosnd work of national wealth,
the prop and stay and substratum of public
morals and national strength. 1t implies
an ownership in the soil and consequent
patriotism. Whatever class owns the land
of county should feel the deepest inter
est in the material interests of the country,
and in the enforcement of laws for the pre-
servation of peace and the protection of
persons and property in that country. They
should be educated and instructed so as to
advance the standard of civilization and
exert their humanizing influences which
distinguish the cultivated man from the
ignorant savage. More knowledge, more
light, higher social position in the scale of
society should be the aim and end of every
farmer in the land.