The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1875-02-25

OF the hand; az those who play upon the
harp or other instruments of music, must
keep their hands continually in practice,
that their fingers may readily follow
their mind"
"You reason well" said Ischomachus,
"but suppose the ground is light and
ope or suppose 1t is stiff and heavyT
:" What would you have me understand
by that" said Socrates; "do you not take
the lighter ground to be the weakest and
the heavy ground to he the strongest ~
II am of that opinion" said Ischo'
machus. ..
"I would then fain know of YOU" said
Socrates, "whether you would allow the
same quantity of seed to one kind of
ground as you would to another, or
whether you make any difIerence?"
"You know. good Socrates" said
Ischomachus, "that it is as natural to put
the most water TO the strongest wines,
and the stronger man is the greater
burden he may carry; so some men are
nourished with II very spare diet, while
others require greater share of nourish-
ment; the same ought to be considered
in our present case"
"Will not the ground" said Socrates,
"grow more strong by the more use, as
horses and mules are thought to do ?"
"This / take rs Jest" said Ischo-
machus, "but what think necessary to
acquaint you of is, that you SOW your
grain when the ground is moist and has
the best advantage of the air; and when
the corn has come up and is high in the
blade, if you then turn it into the ground
with a plow, it will greatly enrich the
land and give it as much strength as a
good dunging would do; and we must
also remark, tnat il we continue to SOW
for long space the same sort of grain
upon any ground, but upon that espe-
cially weak or overcharged with seed, it
will impoverish the ground, and wear it
out of heart. We may compare this to a
SOW which suckles MANY pigs, and sus-
tains them until they grow large; the
more pigs she suckles the more will she
be weakened"
"You intimate by this" said Socrates,
"that one ought to SOW the smallest guam
tity of grain upon the weakest SOIL"
at is true" replied Ischomachus, "and
is what we have partly agreed on before,
that overburden ground with seeds or
corn, is the ready way to weaken it."
"But for what reason, good Ischo-
machus, do you make bitches or thor
oughs in the corn fields p?
"You know very WE'LL" replied Ischo-
machus, "the wet is apt TO do great dam
age to corn; for sometimes our corn
fields are incommoded with waters, and
the corn in some of its parts, smothered
with mud; and besides, the roots of the
corn in other places will be washed to
the lower part of the ground, and by that
means fill the corn with weeds"
81 presume" said Socrates, "what you
say is agreeable 70 reason"
"And do you think" said Ischomachus,
"that corn which is subject to these in.
conveniences ought not to be assistedT
Undoubtedly" answ red Socrates.
"Then what shall we do" said Ischo-
machus, Ito prevent the waters from
covering the corn with mud"
81 find then," said Socrates, ut is
proper to ease the ground from wet to Sc
cure the corn"
But" said Ischomachus, "ifthe roots
of the corn should be laid bare and the
earth about them worn away ?"
"Then suppose" continued he. "the
best way to remedy that is to find some
means of covering the roots with earth,
that they may be well nourished."
"But if the weeds which may come up
by this management" replied Socrates,
SHOULD suck up or destroy the nourish-
ment which the corn ought to receive,
like the drone bees in hive, which are
of no value in themselves, and yet live
upon the industry of the working bees
and destroy the provisions which they
have laid up to be manufactured into
wax and honey"
"The weeds" replied Socrates, SHOULD
then be plucked up, as the drones in a
hive are killed and discharged from it.
"Do you think taen, said Ischomachus,
that water thoroughs or trenches in the
ground to draw off the waters are not good
to save corn I"
"I see now the use of SMILES" said
Socrates, "for there is nothing can in
struct me so much ds SMILES; for by them
YOU have taught me to know the disad-
vantage ofweeds among corn, as well as
instructed me that drOnes are not always
advantageous to bees"
1T is surprising to me-" said Socrates,
"that seeing husbandry is 50 easy to
learn, we find such vast difference
among the husbandmen; some we may
observe to be very rich, while others have
hardly bread to eat"
To this Ischomachus replied: ut is
not the want of knowledge which makes
the poor husbandman, for both the rich
and the poor may have the same knoWl-
edge in sowing orplanting; or in the vir-
tue of the soil, and what is best to plant
upon it, and in the ordering of vines, or
that ground is improved by following and
by manuring; but that which makes some
farmers poor and some rich, is because
the first are negligent and lazy, and the
latter are industrious and thrifty. The
poor farmers often lose the profit Of a
year by neglecting to make proper pro-
vision, either by fallowing, manuring, or
sowing; nor has he any wine through his
neglect in planting vines, or taking care
10 pruno anu uTeSS IuOSe NlneS He Hdo
already; such man has neither oil nor
figs, for he neglects the care of his tree.
1t is for these causes, good Socrates, that
you find one farmer richer than another;
for the knowledge of farming, or any
thing else, is of no service or advantage
if it is not industriously practiced. And
so among generals of armies, it is likely
that they all understand their business,
but yet we perceive that some of them
gain more honor and riches than others.
Their case is like that of the husband
man; the industrious are always gamers,
while the negligent always come off
losers. So likewise we all know that
manuring the ground is necessary; but
some are negligent and never employ
themselves about it, though it may as
well be done by turning of cattle into it,
as by other means. .. ....
"Some farmers use all their industry to
gather together all the sorts of manures
tba1, nop HnI, and ot oro thOunh tha