The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1872-04-05

! tudI 10 hahilOSbiA6o ASSSAA ~ AoA SCI
since the war. A farmer dom
make fortune in one or two crop,
and he Immediately wants to senC
off his sons to be clerks, to engags
in business where they can make
money fast. Who is it that accumu
late wealth? 1t is the people whc
begin small. A young man marries
settles down on his farm, goes heart.
lily to work and waits for fortune t.
come. At Christmas he sits down
and makes his calculations. He has
lived not fine, but comfortable. He
has provisions for another year and
possibly one or two hundred dollars
in money. And SO he goes on, max
ing a little every year, until in
course of time, when his daughters
marry, he can dover them with
farms, he can educate his sons and
his old age is comfortable. All
gained by little and taking a long
time to do it.
| am anxious for new things in
some directions, but not for this i'm
patience in the pursuit of wealth.
Let the farmer visit our cities; he
meets men better dressed than him.
self, but let him reflect F.; his neighbol
Jones came out even at the end OF
the year, which one of the men he
meets can say the same thing; what
merchant can say it 7 Some mer-
chants accumulate wealth but three
out of four become bankrupt.
You are getting up an Expert
mental Farm and | am glad of it.
Cobb county is we'll up in the i'm
provcments of the age, but many
farmers in Cobb don't understand
this thing about an Experimental
Farm, and what they cali science
farming. You claim to know about
the details of farming, hut i. is far
easier to tell what you don't know.
Here before the bar of this associa-
ton l can convict you of ignorance.
Tell me if you can what is the maxi
mum amount of fertilizers, that will
produce the best results on your
lands Z Which is the best, to drill
wheat, or broadcast it 7
The object of the experimental
farm is to know these things to a
certainty. Shall we try to find these
things out by chance, or by the di
rect applications of science You
say it looks too much like book
farming. Well | have no use for a
man who sits in his house compound
ing phosphates and superphospates
while the cows and pigs are break
ing into his fields and eating up his
But that is not science
Success can only be attained by fol-
lowing the laws of science. The
successful farmer is scientific man.
He turns over land that was fall
low and chemical action follows
The subsoil pillow turns up the hid
den richness of yeur farms and the
sun and the rain and the winds act
upon it in accordance with the laws
of science. You put fertilizers up
on it and the combination that fol-
lows is in accordance with the laws
of science. 1t is all science, but be-
cause you don't understand these
reactions you sheer at book farming.
What is the aim of science but to
and ascertain the laws Of
nature and of natures Godg
To ascertain what is the best
manure would be to accomplish the
greatest result. This can never be
done, but the experimental farm will
this result. To tell
how to produce the largest yield,
can only be done by experiment and
these experiments can only be sue
cessfully conducted on the expert
mental farm.
And now a few words on the
question of debt. | understand the
farmers of Cobb are in good condi-
ton. wish it were so in other
sections. Georgia would then be
a happy State. Keep out of debt
even for implements and fertilizers.
Don't put yourselves in the power
of others, don't have to dodge. You
may not accomplish as much; you
will certainly feel better. If you
havn't money to pay for fertilizers
better let them alone. You may
think this strange doctrine for the
President of the Agricultural Con-
vention, but | adhere to it. Better
be independent.
Why buy foreign fertilizers when
all around your doors the products of
your stable and barn yards are vast
ing away and running down your
gullieS to produce luxuriant crop
of weeds in some bottom, and after it
is all wasted you say "the land needs
something" Better use what you
have. 1t ought to be used. Our
soil is the wealth of our country, and
our wealth is wasting while our lands
are wearing out. Let it go on and
Georgia will be bankrupt. Farming
abandoned, lands deserted and the
farmers started to Texas. Under
stand me, | am not opposed to fer
tilizers but | am opposed to debt.
Look at the results of the want of
order and system. The farmer be-
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