The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1877-03-01
CO.OperatiOn in Farming.

SOsUpCldtiVu Ill Il III HIibSs
An important advantage of large farms
is that they enable the farmer to en-
ploy more help and do the work by
groups of laborers rather than by solitary
individuals. 1t is well attested fact
that two men working together can and
generally will do more than twice as
much as one and three, four or more
can work together with proportionate
advantage. 1t is not only pleasanter but
easier to work with others than to work
alone. Every Northern farmers boy
knows how lonesome it seems to hoe
or plant alone in large cornfield; how
! the work drags, and how tired the work.
er becomes. A dozen men and boys
making twenty-four rows in a bout,
changes everything, a much smaller
number can work with nearly the same
advantage. Work of this kind should
never be done by isolated laborers. They
cannot accomplish as much alone, and
! the fatigue is far greater.
Working in the same field with others
is II stimulus and decidedly advantage
ous. In harvest field with self-raling
reaper the binders see each other only
occasionally but how the countenance
brightens when the turns come together
and the driver of the reaper cheers and
encourages all. Raking and binding
after cradle, as 1 remember it, was
equally social work. There was a con-
slant strife between GRADER aud binder
TO see which should excel. Under this
stimulus some of the largest days work
on record have been performed, and
sometimes by men who were not good
for much else. They needed the stimu-
lus of competition and were good for
little without it. There are many more
such men than we think.
Our Northern farmers, owning small
farms, and mostly working them with lit
tie help, live too isolated life. The
remedy is not altogether in farmers
clubs oranges and meetings nor social
enjoyment during the season of rest.
These are all good but they do not reach
the greater difficulty-the isolation of
farmers in their fields and during the
working season. "It is not good for man
to be alone" not only as to the neces-
sity of marriage, but this is nearly as ap-
plicable to the need for society and CON-
panionship in work. Thousands Of farm
ers become insane-some more and some
less, and in great ma iority of instances
this alteration is the direct result of q
solitary life. Farmers wives suffer from
this cause even more than the men, espe.
cially where children keep the housewife
closely at home. Children are com
panions only in partial sense. They
stimulate the affections, but they are
more or less Implications of their parents
and do not demand the mental activity
required by association with intelligen
adults.
Farm help is not usually so nearly OF
an equality in mental culture and inteli
gence as it was forty or fifty years ago
It is quite rare that farmers nowaday
seek, or seeking find, intelligent com
panions in their hired men. l know
many exceptions to this; but what have
written is the general rule. Farmer
mistake in this, for no matter how ignor
ant and thoughtless their help, the,
ought to make the most of it. This i
not only duty but their decided inter
est. Any hired man will do more worl
and do it better for being treated as Al
: intelligent being rather than as q slav
whose only use was to dig and delve TO
his monthly wages This consideration
I should be more thought of in hirin
help. Any man whom you cannot aft T.
to associate with you cannot afford t
; hire at any price Intelligence and mora
worth are as important on the farm a
: anywhere, and if they do not comman
as high price it only shows that the
are not fully appreciated by farmers.
: After all, suspect that the true rem
edy for the isolation of farmers is to b
found in cooperation with each .thel
d "Changing works used to be commo
in all new settlements, and it is a grea
mistake that this custom has ever bee
left to die out. The farm help should S
+ far as possible be domiciled in separat
: houses built for their use. This pla
h generally secures better class of work
/ men. besides the further advantage @
y two distinct families on the same farm
y If possible, neighbors should build the
y houses in clusters, and in all cases shoul
n live and act like neighbors. The Germa
, custom is to have small villages of farm
n ers, whose land often lies one, two {
s more miles distant. Our practical Yar
a KEGS scorn this way OF doing thing
If "It is too unhandy for the work" 5
h everything is sacrificed to convenienC
= for work. We labor harder and accOn
? plish more than the people of any oth'
IS C )untry, but the effect is seen in broke
II ,wn constitutions and prematurely ol
IS m an, and in our farming population til
), effects of an almost complete isolatio
g from social life. By-and-bye we sha
1t learn that more is gained by cooperate
s. than by isolation. Farmers will wol
It together, and their wives will also. III
D baking for a dozen families may be don
is in summer by fire in ono large stove
y range, and a housewife will no mo-
II think of doing the weeks washing |
hand with the present slow process
n than her husband would of reaping h
is. grain with a sickle, or thrashing his e.
2, tire harvest with fail..-IV D. +.
r Country Gentleman.
a A Jewel of a Jeweler.
n A Russian prince invited a couple
charming young actress to little afte
a 1. Il, L