The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1872-01-26
Maxims for Farmers.


The following good maxinas should |
be carefully read aud lived up TO by !
all farmers. They are well worth pre- |
serving for constant reference
l. Only good farming pays. He |
who s0ws without reasonable assur- |
ance OF good crops, annually, might
better earn wages Of some capsule
neighbCr than work for so poor q pay
master as lie Is certain t. prove MINI
self.
,. The good farmer is proved such
by the steady appreciation Of lis
crops. Any one may reap an ample
harvest from a fertile virgin soil; the
good farmer alone grows good crops
at first, and better and better after
ward.
3. 1t is far easier to maintain the
productive capacity Of Q farm than to
restore ii. To exhaust the fecundity,
and then attempt its restoration by
buying costly commercial fertilizers,
is wasteful and irrational.
4. The good farmer sells mainly
such products as are least exhaustive.
Necessity may cOustTain BIN, for the
first year OF two, to sell grain, or even
hay out he viii soon send off his.
surplus, mainly in cotton, or wool, or
meat, or butter aud cheese, or some
thing else tn9t returns &c the soil nearly
all that is taken from it. 4 bank ac-
count daily drawn upon, while nothing
is deposited to its G. edit, must soon re-
spOnd 'nO funds" So with q farm siEn-
ilarly treated.
3. Rotation is al least negative fer
tiliZatiOD It may not positively en-
rich q farm, it will at least retard and
postpone its impOverishment. He
who grows wheat after wheat, corn
after corn, for twenty years, will need
to emigLate before the term is fulfilled.
The same farm cannot support Tor en-
dure) him longer than that. All our
wheat growing sections of fifty years
ago are wheat growing no longer 4:
while England grows larger crops
| thereof on the very fields that fed the
| armies of Saxon Harold and William
! the COnuueroT. Rotation has pre-
| served these as the lack of il has
| ruined those.
g. Wisdom is never dear, provided the
| article be genuine. have known farm
| eTs who toiled constantly from daylight
/ to dark yet died poor, because through
| Ignorance, they wrought TO disad-
| vantage. If every farmer would de-
vote two hours Of each day TO read
! ing and reflection, there would be
fewer failures III farming than there
| are at present.
z. The best investments q farmer
! can make for his children is that
which surround their youth with the
rational delights Of q beauteous, at
| tractive home. The dwelling NAV be
small and rude, yet few flowers will
enrich and gladden. it; while grass
! and shade are within reach of the
humblest. Hardly any labor done on
| farm is so profitable as that which
makes the wife and children fond and
proud Of their home.
8. A good, practical education, in
! Guiding a good trade, is a better outfit
| for q youth than q grand estate, with
! the drawback Of an empty mind.
! Many parents have shaved and pinch
! ed to leave their children rich, when
! half the sum thus lGvished would
! have pTofted them far more had it
! been devoted to the education of their
! mind, the enlargement Of their ca
! pacity to think, observe and work.
! The one structure that no neighbOr-
| hood can afford to do without is the
schOOlhOUse.
| 9. A small library Of well selected
| books in his home has saved many q
! youth from wandering into the bane-
| tul ways Of the prOdigal son. Where
! parental StrlCtnGS5 and severity would
| have bred nothing but dislike and a
/ fixed resolution to abscOnd at the first
| opportunity, good books and pleasant
| surroundings have We8ned many a
| youth from his first wild impulse to
| 90 to sea or cross the continent, and
made him q dCcile, cOntenied, obedi-
! ent, happy lingeTer by the paternaI
| firesides In a family, however rich or
| poor, no other food is so cheap or so
| precious rs thoughtful, watchfuI love
| 10. Most men are born poor, but no
man, who has average capacities and
| tolerable luck, need remain so. Aud
| the farmers calling, though proffer-
| ing no sudden leaps, nc ready short
| cuts to Opulence, is the sUrest of all
ways from poverty and want to COM
| fort and Independence. Other men
must climb; the temperate, frugal,
! diligent, provident farmer may grow
into competency and every accessory
| to eternal happiness. Each year of
| bis devotion t. his homestead may
| fluid il more valuable, more attractive
than the last, and leaves it better
| still