The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1872-02-01

The Life Of Farmer.
The life of farmer can be made easier,
pleasanter and healthier, and his home more
attractive, beautiful and enjoyable, by careful
attention to certain rules too often forgotten.
l. Too much work is frequently undertaken,
or more land attempted to be cultivated than
the means at his command will fairly allow.
Having once started on the wrong path, and
only looking to the profit that may accrue if all
his plans can be accomplished, he presses all
his energies into the service, only to find at the
end of the season that the task he had imposed
upon himself was too heavy, and that much of
his labor has been wasted from the want of
prudent, cautious calculation at the beginning.
1t would have been far better to husband his
strength and that of the force at his command,
so that the work shall be kept within the abili-
ty of the field hands and nothing sighted.
Larger areas under cultivation than can be
cropped successfully, make show, and put on
an outward appearance of prosperity but it is
wholly delusive where there is weakness be-
hind it ALL Less land, better tillage, and fewer
mortgages would do some of ous counties an
immense amount of good, and not only keep
the minds of embarrassed owners easy, but ul-
timately bring them, by concentration of means
and power, an increase of prosperity. For the
working farmer it is far better that he should
lay out for the season only so much work as
may be within his means and his capacity, and
to do we'll whatever work he undertakes. 1t is
also most desirable that the impoverished land
owner, and there are many such, should partl-
ton off portions of his land into smaller farms,
or sell outright what he cannot manage con-
veniently, and concentrate all his ability on
smaller number of acres. A hundred acres
well manured and we'll titled, will bring him
more profit than three hundred acres indiffer-
emily manured and hurriedly titled.
2. The work on the farm should be better
systematized than it is usually. 1t is impor-
tant that the work should be 80 arranged that
there shall be time allowed for doing every
thing that may be required to be done, without
undue strain, and allowing for contingencies,
so that there shall be fair margin to count
upon in any event. When once such regula-
tions are laid down they should be rigidly
adhered to, for any departure from. them, un-
less under exceptional circumstances, would be
likely to prove embarrassing. More time is
frequently lost at the last moment in thinking
what to do and how to do it, or where the
means to do it shall be found, than in perform
ing the work when once determined on and
begun with method and conducted with pre-
cision. Think, then, beforehand; map out the
things to be done, and it will be matter Of
surprise after while to find how easily the
days routine runs in its groove. OF course
perfect regularity, under all conditions of time,
place, and weather, is not to be expected, tor
the best plans sometimes fail just rs the best
regulated railway train may break q wheel or
be shifted off the track by damaged rail. But
any method carefully devised for carrying on
the work of farm Systematically and with
due regard to the circumstances of the farmer
or planter and his ability to command suffi-
cieht force of field hands, when it is more
wanted, is infinitely superior to hap hazard,
"happy 90 lucky" way of trying to do the same
things and just missing it. There is nothing
more beneficial in carrying on systematic farm
ing than the keeping of regular account OF
income and expenditure, and Il simple diary of
each days occupation, with the condition OF the
crops and the state of the weather. We ven
ture to say that a man who docs this, for two
years faithfully, will find it of so much advan-
tage as q means of reference and as assisting to
correct slips of the memory, that he will scarce
ly fail to continue it thenccforward.
8. Pay more attention TO the health of the
body. Care in changing from thin to thicker
garments, or the reverse, as the case may be,
in accordance with the variations of the wealth
er, will often prevent severe attacks of sickness.
Malaria should always be guarded against, not
only by caution in exposing ones self to its
baleful influences, but by the use Of small dos
es of quinnc, and in damp situations by keep
ing the apartments dry; even in hot weather
some fire has to be used. The farmer, especi-
ally of the Middle States, is constantly exposed
to sudden alterations of cold and heat, and is
further liable to suffer from checked perspira-
ton, when severe labor demands short peri
cd of rest 1t is such things as these, combined
with hard work, that break down, after awhile,
the strongest of constitutions. Reason would
tell us that life passed without violent mental
strain, in the open country and in pure at
mosphere, would be more likely than almost
any other to reach The limit of three score years
and ten. The statistics show that the average
duration of life, among persons engaged in ag-
ricultural pursuits, is actually less than that
attained by persons engaged i'll some OF the
most labOri0us occupations 0i Il town.
T. Make the home life cheerful and bright, rs
well as comfortable, see that the house is made
pleasant by neat adornmcnts, and that it has
also pleasant surroundings, books, papers, pic
lures, music, some of these at least, if not all,
are within the reach of all those whose minds
crave them, and whose eyes appreciate them.
When homes are bleak, bare and cherries, life
is robbed of some of its chicfest blessings. The
outward beauty of a country dwelling is Il mat
ter of no less consequence Its adOrnmcnt,
though simple and inexpensive, may yet be
made to add new charm to the inner comforts.
Flowers over the porchcs and shrubs and flow
crs on the awn are natures arts, and though
cheap, are in their natural beauty more attrac-
iyn hnu 1uv nthnr thiur ihat thp cost lIpSt art