New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-01-05
RITTER FARMING IN 1872.

Before Christ spake His parable OF the
sower who went forth to SOW, souhd oiu
Roman farmer had condensed the rural WISDOM
of his day into three nuggets: first, plow !;
second. plow; third, spread the dung nils
broadcast. Neither Mr.. Mech nor DR.. Gilbert
nor Arthur Young, in his day could say more
in fewer words. Twenty centuries have agreed
70 consider them the Alpha and Omega OF farm
sense. The cultivation of the soil is like the
cultivation of the mind its law is one OF per-
petual growth, with penalty of stunning ana
dvarfng if there is halt in the march. Like
a mounting life and an expanding soul, the
farmer "plants his foot on his yesterdays and
q his failures, climbs tireessly toward the future
" and success, with spirit full of growth that
continually presses forward, never renting
the toll of rounding itself into completeness"
The real farmer who loves his work, looks
upon farming as master game, a
thousand times more fascinating than
billiards, or chess, or war Itself.
There are certain elements in the game upon
which he can calculate, and others over which
he has not the slightest control. lie can be
sure that in mellow, fertile soil good seeds
will terminate as soon as the warmth OF
Spring enters the ground. But whether the
rains will be scant or abundant, whether they
will be withheld when the ears of his corn
are setting, OF storms blow his straw flat; ;
whether May will give him no cold storms;
and September pass without crisping the
leaves of his squash vines-these are uncer-
tainties that forever beset his noble work and
give it the discs9eting hazards of chance. But
the tendency of all good farming Is to work
out the elements of chance and give agrlcul-
ture the dignity and certainty OF perfected
art based on a rational science. 10 Illustrate: :
if the farmer in his corn field has twelve
inches of mellow tilth which is well moistened
with the Spring rains when he plants, that
soil will retain or draw from the stratum of
earth below moisture enough to make far
corn crop. Here he works out his problem in
uncertainty. IL he so contrlveS his
structures that pump driven by Sum
mer winds shall lift several thousand
gallons of water to pond on hill, he can
by irrigating rlls gain full command OF the
necessary moisture on part of his surface,
and here he can plant all those crops that
rejoice in succuleDce. In this he may rise
above the tyranny of the seasons.
In all that vast region southwest OF the
Missouri, it has been urged that barns and
hay-stacks were not essential in carrying stock
through Winter. The present season has
frozen out that delusiOn, even as far south as
the head-waters of the Brazos and the Colo
radio The prairie farmer who would defend
himself from great and ruinOus losses must
put up sheds and wind breaks matching them
with wild grass, and pile long rows of
hay -stacks in front of them. His animals
may not all die for want of fodder IN
some Winters, but they will be all the
| better in Spring for the protection even in
snowless and mild season. management
that will make bigger dunghills and more OF
them is the essential thing. The dunghill is
the true fulcrum on which must rest every
lever that can he used to lift farming to a
higher plane. To secure this, farm animals
must rove less, thirst less, have fatter food and
| dryer beds. Under these conditions they will
thrive better, yield more milk and more flesh;
the farm will rapidly grow rich, fertile, and
valuable, and the sales of tlesh butter, and
cheese return regular and certain income.