The Hickman courier., 1878-07-05
Start Right and then Stick.

A great many men throughout the
country are "goipg back to iarming' this
year, and an unusual number of young
men are looking out for a start in the
same business. The reports that come
from the west, of a revival of the old
time inpouring of new settlers, and the
accounts of the taking up of old farms
in New England, are among the best
signs of the times. 1t the new farmers
will only start right, and then stick to
it, their success may be insured in ad-
vance. Want of foresight in choosing,
and stability of purpose and effort, are st
the bottom OF half the failures in farm
ing, for it is even more disastrous for
farmer to make sudden and radical
changes in his business plans than to
"put all his eggs in one basket" by de-
pending on one crop. The farmer who
"rotates" from sheep to COWS, and from
COWS to grain, and from grain to fruit,
with every fuctuation of the markets,
spretty sure to get in one crop that he
can't "raise"-a mortgage.
Every farm is better adapted to some
industries than others. II the land is
low and springy and cold, foot rot or
other diseases will take the profits off of
sheep. If there is not plenty of pure,
cool water, and pssturage especially
adapted to cows in its chemical charac
teristics, and that does not shriyel up by
the end of July, dairying will not
prosper. If the grain producing ele-
ments in the soil are exhausted, or in
sect-enemies or climatic influences inter
fere, grain crops will fail. If fruit trees
must stand "with their feet in the
water" owing to lack of drainage,
orchards will prove disappointing.
Then again, men are as different as
their farms. Some have just the knack
to bring together dairy of cows, nearly
every one of which shall be a good
mixer" and by gentle, clean, provi.
dent management secure large returns
for the best of products. Another has the 1
faculty of having his land, his seed, his |
fertilizers, his times and seasons, Just right |
TO coax fields cf waving grain from the |
sJll. Another will have a flock of I
sheep, every one of which looks as 1
though bred to enter for the premium AT |
the county fair. Still another will plant |
aud prune and shape an orchard of half
thousand apple trees SO that they shall
all stand uniform, smooth, symmetrical,
yielding just such apples, in just such
quantities as he planned when ne bought |
the trees from the nursery. The point is
that every:man, in farming as in other
occupations, should ascertain what his
combined inward forces and outward
will enable him to do best,
and do that. AS rule, diversified farm
ing is the best, except in localities pre-
eminently adapted to one branch, like
the dairy regions of New York, or the
natural grain fieldo of the west.
A snug little orchard fields of grain,
grass, corn and reot crops; manageable
drove of COWS or sheep; pair of choice |.
breeding mares; a pen of good hogs a
YARD OF poultry; some extra crops to
experiment on-this old-fashioned meth
o1 is about the safest and most comfort
aoie, alter ell. For specialties require t
special knowledge, and special conditions S
D. success. They are like a one-Iegged n
milking stool, can't stand alone; while t
Taried farming has various supports t
Golden Rule. Fl