American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1875-04-17
April ON the Farm.

IT is time now that wise and judicious
plans were perfected for the summers
work. Don't try to do too much. 1t is
better to do things well than to do great
deal poorly. The prevailing fault with
US is trying to do too much. Why is it
that we see such varied success, SO many
failures in farming. Why do some
farmers get ON SO much better than 9TH
ersf Farms equally well located, and
having a soil, SO far as VIC can see,
equally good. will often present quite
strange contrasts to the eye of even a
casual observer. How do you account
for this! With land very nearly equal
in point of quality, with nearly the same
amount of labor, perhaps, how is it that
results SO widely differ? Is it not the diff
ference in the quality of the labor? The
the other is guided by mind and thought,
calculation and energy. 1t might be
comprehended perhaps under the gen
eral head of The Methods of Farming. +"
There is many hard-working farmer
who is up early and down late, who
seems to be trying to do his best, and yet
he doesn't seem to get ahead in the
he ought TO be forehanded. They say
there is a want of calculation somewhere,
and SO they let him plod on. But it is
clear that he is rowing up stream, strain
ing every nerve to do his best, with the
current against him. The trouble is not
In a want of willingness to work, but he
does at q loss what nature, little more
skillfully managed, would spontaneously
do for him. Work as hard as he may, he
does not do all that is necessary for the
complete success of his labors. He loses
half the result by emitting a third of the
toll and he risks the loss of the entire
crop by little negligence in the prepare
ton or perhaps in protection.
He has adopted q wrong method. He
is more ambitious of a large than a good
farm, and he takes burdens uron his
shoulders that he cannot safely or Sc
curely carry: The consequence is he
careful supervision of details that econ
omy demands. He suffers all the acct
dents of things left to themselves.
Fences, perhaps, are broken down, and
crops or cattle injured. Orchards are
planted and left to the borer, or, what is
worse, to be browsed or broken by cattle.
Tools and wagons and sleighs and sleds
swell in the rain, shrink in the sun, till,
like the Deacon's old "one-hoss shay"
they suddenly break down, to the stop
page of work and the damage of temper
or property. Farming after this method
is a kind Of uphill business. And yet is
it not too common? The earth is starved
because of the wastes from the manure
heap, till it is hardly able to hold up a
ton Of hay to the acre. Is that
economys
We could point to many farmer who
lets things slide generally. If the trees
are all loaded down with apples, no
matter. In go the cows and browse and
strip the lower limbs, eating bushel after
bushel of Baldwins and Hubbardstons
or Winter Sweets and Portcrs, and per-
haps he would say, if his attention were
called to it, "Oh, never mind, don't
worry about that; they won't hurt 'em
any"
But this is only an illustration of his
general management. The weeds grow
up in dense masses in his corn and his
potato patch, overlapping the crop, but
if his attention is called to it the reply
may be, " Yes, the land is full of weed
seed; it is no use to try to get it out"
And SO every weed sucks away at the vi
tai elements of the corn and potato in
the soil, reducing the yield from a splep-
did crop to one of only ordinary extent.
Every weed stands in place of a potato
or stalk of corn, ripening its seed for
another crop next year, and SO it Coca
There is waste, a leak in the potato
field, a leak in the cornfield, leak in the
orchard. But there is the biggest kind
Of leak in the barnyard! No cellar
bursts with swelling fairness. The team
ing pile of manure seldom feels the
piercing tines of the fork to tighten it up
to the air and to start the warm fermen-
tation. No muck or loan or leaves reach
it regularly to be mixed up so as to di-
vide the richness of the heap and absorb
and retain its evanescent virtues. Per-
haps the rain pours down from the lofty
caves and washes away the best soluble
salts of the yard. Perhaps, now and
then, Mt rare intervals, spasmodic effort
is made to get in few loads of loan,
but no systematic and persistent plan OF
action is adopted and SO there is waste
in the barn and waste under tho
barn. If you talk with such farmer
you may be sure he'll maintain
that there's no profit in farming. He
does not see the leaks that might be
stopped, or, if he does. they seem SO small
as to be quite unworthy of notice, while
in the aggregate they are eating up his
substance, and are the source of all his
embarrassments. And ten chances to one
he will tell you he wants capital. Can't