The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1873-04-19
Talent to the Front in Farming.

Talent to the Front in Farming.
We find in The Practical Farmer an arti-
Gle on organization in farming, which meets
our views of the future agriculture in this
country and elsewhere:
The author of "Ogden Farm Papers,"
in The American Agriculturist, evidently
docs not admire the average farmer. He
and few other noted dairymen make an
article of butter which readily commands
rs cents or 81 per pound-but somebody
wants to know OF him "if all the butter in
the country were 'gilt-edged,' whether it
would not then all be sold at '2-cents-a-
quart price?" He answers "Perhaps it
would we shall never know. We may
preach until the millennium comes, and we
shall never do away with bad butter nor
with bad farming. The great mass of men
in our craft, as in all others, are stupid and
doltish. They only move in the wake of
their more progressive brethren--perhaps
SOOTHING as they follow-keeping relatively
about as far behind all the time. There is
no doubt that the butter of the world
will be vastly improved as time rolls
same relative difference between the
that there is nova difference
that will manifest itself in every branch of
farming. The mass of farmers will always
be slow old fogies /; sneering and jeering
at the likes of u.s. who write for the agri-
cultural papers, and holding back against
all improvement as long as their dull ideas
of their interest will allow" AS to walk
IN them up to the Importance of improve
ha tyc n 1u
through the intelligent and enterprising
leaders; ''they head the procession, direct
arguments and appeals to them, and when
they start, as they will, the rest will fol-
low, like air rushing in to fill up the vacu-
UNI. The "2-cent-a-quarto men, he thinks,
will never bulge an inch because of any
force applied directly to them.
There is a vast amount of truth in what
Mr.. Warning says. The want of intelli
gence, of enterprise, and of thrift in farm
ing, constitute its reproach. No combina-
tons to put up farm prices, no system of
secret societies to war upon railroads or
middle-men, can wipe it out. Farmers do
not comprehend the trouble, nor Mr.. War
ing either--at least he does not
suggest it. Did he or any other
man ever know any business to sue
coed creditably in which there was gene
raj disregard of business principles? In
other pursuits there is organization, with
trained skill to lead, and capital to second
its efforts but where do we see this in
farming? The census reports 1859, 985
farms in the United States in 1870, and
every farm of course has separate man
ager, each manager being in a majority of
cases, during most Of each year, i" boss,
boy, and all hands.o That business which
demands more than any other, per-
haps, the most thorough acquain-
lance with natures laws, which
requires a knowledge of soils, climate,
fertilizers, the habits of trees and plants !;
Of insects and insect life; of the manage
ment of many breeds of live stock of the
selection, qualities, merits and care Of
farm machinery and tools; of business
tact in marketing and purchasng-in fact,
literal host of qualifications ten times as
varied as those needed in other pursuits
it is popularity supposed than any indus.
trious or economical man can succeed in
such a business! Suppose our manufac-
tories should disband their organizations,
and their operatives scatter over the coun-
try, each man intent on carrying on
business son his own hook,D with a few
hundred dollars of capital? Suppose our
great newspaper establishments should
follow suit, and each printer start a
newspaper for himself, edit it and
print it single-handed, or with such meagre
help as may now and then yet be found in
out-of-the-way villages or remote settle
ments Would any success worth the
name be likely to attend this sort Of bust
ness independence And is it not pre-
ciselY from tins sort of low estate that our
great business enterprises have risen step
by step? Organization under the lead OF
skill and capital has been the rule the
cost of production has been lessened,
and the quality of the article produced
been improved; profitable employment
furnished to tens of thousands who only
before lived from hand to mouth; colossal
fortunes built up, which in turn have
fostered other enterprises, or contributed
through liberal living to the general
prosperity.
But in the face of all this, the farmer
holds up his hands and says that this pros
perity does not come to HIM! No; and it
will not as long as he maintains his isola-
ton, and obstnately contends that "any
man can be farmer" Let them do as husi.
ness men do-unite their capital, form joint
stock associations, elect directors, and these
directors choose the ablest farm manager
they can find to. manage the enterprise.
Then stupidity will 60 to the rear and tai
ent to the front. Their guess-work will
give place to exactness, shiftlessness to
system, blind routine to an intelligent APP
probation of Natures laws; land slkinning
will give place to high farming-which SIM
ply means to apply the greatest profitable
amount OF labor and capital to a given
area. An immense saving in the cost OF
production will be affected-the least OBJ
jectionable way for enhancing prices. But
If combinations to secure withheld rights