The Rock Island daily Argus. [volume] (Rock Island, Ill.) 1872-1873, 1873-10-29

was kept were rarer than those that had
none. Farming implements were of the
simplest kind / remember the first
threshing machine, horse power, brought
into our neighborhood. 1t made its APP
pearance about the same time the first
piano came into the village. | think both
were generally regarded as evidence Of ex-
travagant innovation, likely to break their
owners. All this has been changed The
introduction Of improved agricultural i'm
plements, which substantially dates back
scarcely twenty-five years, has tendency
TO bring about the same kind Of changes
in farming that labor-saving machinery
has effected in the mechanical arts-the
gangpiow, the reaper, the header, thresh-
ing machines, enabling one owner to cult
vate more acres, increase the size of farms,
and make the use of capital more essen,
tial condition of success.
THE FARM LIFE OF TO-DAY
Now, almost everything prodp ,nspmad
farm Is sold, almost everything at;mes tbe
in the house is bought arpool now fix-
markets are distant, as IInto 20 t Tlara TIE
es the price Of wheat c,~aS Interested in
farmer necessarily natho5s af avcbonea
the laws of trad nnrta,;on 7, Is ;nnort
and price of tn nSV w hail Kind Of weather i
tbo,, haS England at harvest, how much
wbs., russia can spare, and how many
sh;c are on their way to his nearest port
r. & important that the friction in hand
6nr what he has to sell and what he must
buy should be as light as possible, and that
he should not be taxed in extra profits to
nav losses by bad debts, Now he desires
10 know about where the money is to
come from to move the crops" He
needs more capital at some times
than at others, wants bank accommoda-
tions at low interest As moneyed inter-
ests, manufacturing interests, and con-
mercial interests from the nature of their
transactions, have their capital and pivot
ed centres, aud as from the nature of their
pursuits agricultural interests have not,
but are necessarily diffused as the others
are concentrated. it is eminently proper
they should organize for their own adj
vancement and protection. Farmers liv-
inv in comparatively isolation ought to
feel that there is network of sympathy
connecting each with all. This want the
institution Of Patrons Of Husbandry,
through state and subordinate oranges, is
intended to supply. The specific objects
it proposes will require patient thought and
sometimes careful experiment, but it can
hardy fail TO contribute to social enjoyment
to a cultivation of feeling of esprit du
corps, and that sense of honor which re,
suits from pride of pursuit and mutua
pledge. During the panic in New York
the associated banks for some time re
ceived and paid out as money certified
checks of each other. The word of mem
Der of a grange should be sterling in ever,
| transaction, and pass current as the coin o
the realm Not only his fields, but hi
life should be made fruitful by his asso
citation. His presence at home should b.
au atmosphere of peace, and his intiuenc
among his neighbors as fragrant as an or
chard in bloom.
DESTRUCTION or TREES.
Recurring for moment to the period O
my own recollection, To which have befor
referred. ! recall with regret the destruc
ton OF trees. Now, it seems almost won
ton and cruel. The spreading black wa
nut, the straight, 1.-THE hickory, the tende
ash, and the hardy oak, were girdled
telled, logged, rolled into heaps an
burned, to get them out of the way. One
quarter, perhaps a tenth, of those tree
left standing, would be worth more no,
than the fields from which they wer
q cleared viii not the California stat
: grange take the trees under thei
. fostering cure, and the subordinate grange
: make it point of honor with their men
! bers to plant trees? hope they have o
. will establish an honorary degree for thai
. All value is the result OF labor The farm
: er works nearest TO nature, aud gets mos
: of her assistance Nature is his siler
T partner But of what form of value doe
. labor contribute 50 little, and the invisibl
: forces of nature so much as in the plantin
! and growth of trees.
: One word and | have done. | hay
known farmers who toiled all day, and a
most every day, in the field, when a dali
. halt hour spent on the house and garden i
making home attractive, would add NOR
i to their real happiness than all their tot
. For, after all, home is the true source o
. lasting joys. Fortunate they have happ
e homes-blessed are they who make ther
| happy