Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-05-09

an11rI
2. - - -.
waste, fences going 70 decay, hOoseS DO
coming dIlapidsted, crops poorly cultivated
and nothing realized from the farm, We
feel assured that the owner has nlore thsn
be csn rnansge; that the extent q bis OPP
erations is beyond bis executive skill, and
that he and tbe country would be benefit
ted Il he were to reduce The size Of his
farm until he could keep It vel In hand,
and zee that every lick struck upon It is
made to subserve some profitable end.
This is true economy. 1t other words, it is
more economical to make ten acres pro-
duce afty bushels Of corn than TO have
twenty acres produce fifty bushels.
We know that objections are made to
small farms that costly machinery cannot
be used On them, because the owners are
not able to buy it. This may, TO some ex-
tent, be true; yet il a farmer has bat ten
acres of wheat each year his machine for
cutting It win last just ten times as long as
one who has hundred acres each year, and
when bis investment is once made, bis out.
lay for such implements is not often re-
peated. Besides We cannot see why three
or four such farmers cannot unite and pur-
chase such implements to be used IN some
order, determined by lot or otherwise. In
Ohio, and other Northern States, men make
1t business to cut, or seed wheat BY the
acre, and although their soils are not so
fertile as ours, nor their farms so large, nor.
their crops so diversified, nor their labor so
cheap, and although they pay heavier taxes
and their land is worth more per acre, they
clear more money per acre than the farm
ers of our State. This must be due to
some cause. Is it the employment Of more
intelligent labor, or to their habits Of econ
omy, or to their economical but lavish use
of fertilizers, or to their division of labor,
or to their methods Of employing labor?
Probably to all in degree. They throw
away nothing that can be utilized. No
worn out plow but is carefully put away
it may furnish bolt. An old axe is con-
verted into a wedge. Every particle of
manure is saved and applied where it will
yield the greatest profit. The best teams
and tools are used, because true economy
will use such appliances as viii yield the
greatest return for employed labor. The
best stock is raised, because it requires no
more to grow q fine Berkshire than
razor-back hog; no more to raise an Al
derney or short-horn than a muley scrub;
no more to raise a Southdown than a
oknotty" sheep. Now, let any farmer count
up the difference in the profits of farm by
cultivating nothing but the best land, using
nothing but the best tools, raising nothing
but the best stock, and employing no labor
that he cannot use proftably and keeping
no land that will not yield an income, and
be will soon see why our farmers have not
been more prosperous. This truth must
be learned: We cannot employ labor and
expect good work without being with it.
Talk about the inefficiency Of the 'labor
system" 1t would be more profitable to
talk about the ineffciency Of our labor
managers. We have spent much time in
travelling over the State. We have visited
and talked with the best farmers, those that
are most prosperous, and we have found
that their prosperity has resulted from
close and constant attention to their bust
ness. They do not hire labor and expect
to sit in the shade. They do not hire labor
and ride about the country expecting the
labor to do as well without them as with
them. a man who does not attend to his
own business can hardly expect hired
man to do it for him. A merchant would
be very simple to hire clerk and then
leave his store to seek pleasure everywhere
else but at his business. A man should
not, by the laws of memorable justice, be
PROSPEROUS without strict attention to bust
ness. If such were the case there would
be no incentive to industry, to energy, or
10 honesty. AS well to expect man to be
good without being moral, or thief to be
honest, or liar to be truthful, as farmer
to be prosperous without attending to bis
business.
When this truth is realized in all its force
we shall hear less talk about the inefiicien
cy of labor. Negroes are initiative beings
They, to their credit be 1t said, seek to i'm
itate the more intelligent race, not only in
dress, but in their amusements and habits
They now have their Air grounds, their no
tells, their theatrical exhibitions, their balls
etc. Can it be expected that they will no
seek to shun work when so many idlers o
the superior race are seeking easy situa
tons, neglecting farms to trade horses
stopping plow to attend show? LIE
idleness be made unpopular with the whit
man and then more reliance can be placed
upon the industry ofthe negro. 1t is foil!
to blame him for what majority of us i
practicing every day. Let reform begiI
with the farmers themselves, and they ma.
expect improvement in their employees.
|