The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1873-08-21
From Farm and Home.
Who a. a Good Farmer?

Wide differences Of opinion exist upon
the question which heads this article. In
the estimation Of a majority of men,
however, he is considered the best farmer
who farms the most land, raises the
biggest crops, works the greatest number
Of hands, runs the most plows, etc. In
our cotton raising country he is beyond
all doubt the best farmer in popular es-
TEEN who raises the greatest number Of
bales, and the largest number to the
hand Mr.. a, who with a self-satisfed
look tells you, 81 made 1000 bags last
wear with 100 bands, ten bags to the
hand, " is set down at once as fine
farmer" Mr. b, who made 100 bags
with 80 hands throws 4 Into the shade,
and is universally spoken of as "splen-
did farmer" but when Messrs. G. Il ID
come along, who I" run eight big places,
and made 5000 bags, &" eleven bags to
the full hand, A and B sink into COM
parative insignifcance, and the praises Of
G. Il D" the most successful planters
in the South "-' the biggest planters out
are on every tongue wherever their
fame has reached.
Nobody asks whether the " fine farm
er, D." the splendid farmer, or the
biggest planters out, have improved
their lands by draining, ditching, sub
soiling and manuring, whether they have
ascertained the character and elements of
their lands, and cropped and MANFRED
them with reference to their capacity and
requirements whether they have raised
their own provisions, made their manure,
kept accurate accounts of their farming
operations, and have a practical knowl-
edge of the science of farming. All
that is asked is, how many bags of cot
ton have they raised? Their plantations
may be spotted all over with old fields,
worn and torn to barrenness their fields
may be scanned with yawning gullics !;
their houses, barns and stables may be
as tumble-down and untidy as possible,
without a flower or a vegetable i'm the
garden, and all the appliances Of the
farm may be as rude and unsightly as
can be imagined The big cotton crop
blots out all other transgressions.
This is all wrong. The good farmer is
he who raises big crops and at the same
time improves his land who understands
his business, attends to it and does it /;
whose stock are of the best and in the
best condition; whose fences are always
in good repair; whose farm buildings
are commodious and neat, whose dwell
ing has the appearance of the home of
civilized people; whose manure heap is
very large and increasing; whose corn
crib and smoke-house are ever full of corn
and meat raised by himself: who is sur
rounded by all the necessaries and COM
forts of life who studies his profess
sion and strives to reach the perfection
of farming economy, and knows at the
end of the year exactly what he has
made, what he has expended and how
he stands with the world. He may not
raise moro than ten bags Of cotton, or
even less he may be only that despica-
BILE thing, patch farmer, but in re-
ality he is intellectually better farmer
than the fine, the splendid, and
tho g biggest planters out, and the
time is rapidly approaching when to fol
low his improved system, emigrate or
starve, will be the only alternative left
to those who now despise agricultural
improvement, boast of never reading an
agricultural book or journal, and fancy
that what they don't know is not worth
knowing, because they are doing exactly
as daddy done, toting corn in one
end and rock in the other end as the
most economical mode of balancing the
load. -Farm e Home.