Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1875-09-02
- .IFrom' the Rural New York er.l 2. .z.
The Philosophy of High Farming.

Boston, he answered, ''There is always
room at the top'' The reply is full of
significance, Everywhere the highest
skill and best work find. appreciation
and reward. This rule holds good in /
law. m edfcfne and theology? Isl it not
equal lIYs lFle in man $ original and nat 3
urRl pursuit. ztAet cultivation of the
soil? Is farming thezexceptionalebHsz
mess where nothing counts but dull,
mechanieaElab or, and the highest skill
has ne effeOt21zI an immense matori-
ty of farmers work hard Afor a bare
living, is this, therefore, necessary
and inevitable lot of all? Sorry, in
deed, must he the plight. Of all Ameri-
can farmers if these propositions are
true: Our great staples, wheat, corn,
&c are Wn in, competition with
the poorly paid labeTers, the peasant
ry, late serfs, of Southern Russia and
Midland Europe If we adopt Rus
sian methods of culture we may only
expect the pay which the half-fed and
half-elat Russian laberer receives
That our farmers do succeed in this
unequal competition is due to greater
skill, the fruit of thought and brain
Is there any limit where thought and
brain and skin count for nothing 2 2saL
The philosophy of high farming is
that there is no such limit ii All fail.
ures in farming are dueszto lack of
skilb care and industry Herey as
.every where else, therei is alwaysa9 room.
at theatepgA nd'saperiorbrain carries
off the palm. Norman ever yet knew
| too much to sibe a good farmer, and
no item of practical knowledge which
mayanot bean important help to sue
| cess.-' Whatever is worth doing at all
is WORTH doing well.o This axiom is
more true in. farming than in anything
else.ls Only the good crops pay. =
High manuring and Thorough culture
are essential to these. In, the early
history seflthe country, and on all. ne W
lands now, & sWasteful and unskillful
methods are saEed- from running farm
ers by the fact that the soil had stored
in it the fertility of ages of growth and
decay Farmers have used this stored
fertility to Offset the cheaper labor of
the old GRID. Tt is like Hiving on
one 5 capital;S. resulting only IN posts
1poning the evil day The exhaustion
! of our. once fer tile Eastern soils has
forcedtlfe bulk of the farming popula.
ton to new lands at the west. The
same process there is forcing farmers
everywhere to new methods and i'm
proved systems of culture.
! High farming has net been adopted
z by spectators and fanciful farmers as
means of spending money, but al
most always by, the shrewdest and
| aocE 1aS1a az .NF yo1yi
it. Poor crops, such as too many
/ farmers grow, give no profit even to
men willing to- work hard all theil
4 lives, for the fun of the thing and G
y bare living Double and treble these
crops, as may easily be done. Gel
thirty or forty Bushels of wheat in
stead Of ten, and seventy bushels o1
! oats instead of twenty five, and there
is margin for ptoftspaying the skill
full cultfVator as much ras the same
J skill weu4d- commeaeIssin many Other
), business, and with equal certainty
: Prove that this is not true and farms
viii be speedily deserted by all men o
/ energy and Intelligence. And deserv
, edly, too, Say what we may of tn
evil and mistake of leaving the farm
; for the city, this change will continu
e and ought to continue so long as tai
: ent and skill are worse paid on tn
: farm than they are elsewhere. Their
: is natural law of supply and demand
It which political economists profess t.
S believe in. Why should it not regu
0 late the supply of farmers? For fiv
hundred years population has steadil,
J, tended to cities because eYerythin!
s has been done to make city life pleas
d ant and profitable. Till within fit,
e years almost nothing has been don
l. to make farm work easier or more re
d m1nerative. 1t is no wonder ;hat me
d have left the farm for other pursuits
). Now the tide is turning the other way
/, With improved machinery, horse an
b steam power does the work instead 0
+ human muscle. Drudgery and unpai
y toll have driven the enterprising an
: energetic from the farm. Improve
/ culture is bringing them back
W There are possibilities in farmin
+ such as no other business Affords
No one has learned how much an acr
h of land is capable Of producing
10 is the business of thorough farme
le to find out, at that, too, making MOI
Of money than ever before High farm
ol ing is the best thought Of the shrewt
at est farmers to make nature pay be
ID utmost, not NEARLY in pleasure but i
k dollars and cents. That, after all,
d the final test We cannot urge me
k to adopt improved systems of farmin
It, by any stronger argument than tn
I'd addressed to their pockets Any ma
M can understand filled barns and gran
st ries and handsome surplus of receip
n and expenditures.
IS Yet after all, when we have settle
a the dollars and cents question satisfa
it. torily-.When it is proved that there
Dr. more profit in thorough culture al
n high manuring-a large item is still
he be added in the satisfaction alway
at found in doing perfect work. WI
1t sterile and Weedy fields are an eyeso
Id to q neighborhood Are not high
in titled. fields with bountiful harves
ce rightfully classed W ith things of bea
as ty which are a joy forever? If it
not extravaganza for the wealthy rC
,se ident of a city to buy fine paintings
OF, rural scenery, may not the owner
.ld broad acres rightfully aspire to gre
1e er pleasure in making his farm lar
bis seape of equal beauty? Will he Il
Dts feel q deeper satisfaction as he sits
yer a comfortable and possibly luxurio
d a home, surrounded by those he lo7
.of best, and surveys this scene of beat
ard which is not only the work of his o
self hands but the enduring monument
full his skill, patience and pr. .actical "
a dom?
ler .-ss -a ----.--------.-------
the What queer campaign that is
ler7 Ohio Allen, the Democratic can
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