The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1878-01-03

MAY Dt CdlitO GUESSING : Sui
We would not underate guessing a
an accomplishment. We have
known many scholars and thinkers
in popular esteem, who were after
all nothing but accomplished guess
ers. They possessed a sort of shrewd
perceptive faculty, which seemed
to penetrate into men and things
by the power of intuition. They
Mastered mathematics, the dead
languages and physical science IN
the same way. But We have not
the slightest idea, that this sort Of
thing will do for agriculture. In
deed, We know it will not. Have
not the unsuccessful tillers of the
soil, all around us, been guessing and
has not guessing caused the land to
mourn for its nakedness, poverty
and sorrow? What are these men
doing, when, without studying the
nature of their own soil, the con-
stituent tenemnts Of certain crops,
and the chemical principles of ma
nures, they persist IN making their
farms a sort of P~rocrustean bed,
upon which must be stretched out
a certain harvest, which they have
determined to produce, whether it
is suitable or not? Are they not
blind leaders of the blind? Are
they not guessing their way along
a road upon which if they would
take reason as their guide, they
would 500 fill the land with glad
ness, plenty and rejoicing? Most
unquestionably they are. And yet,
some of these very men object to
agricultural journals, and throw
the weight of their influence against
the diffusion Of learning through
the earth. But, thank Heaven,
the number of this latter class is
small. The farmers themselves are
taking this matter In hand, and
driving the selfish money-changers
out of the temple which the have
polluted.
We say, that a cool, deliberate
reasoning from cause to effect, is
the system which must be applied
to the operations of the farm.
Many persons seem to think, that
logic is simply a part of a college
curriculum, but is not to be en-
ployed as intellectual furniture for
the battle and struggle ofllfe. This
is a serious mistake. 1t is as much
as to say, hal a skillful mechanic,
after learning the use of his tools,
is to cast them aside as utterly use
less. Agriculture is a contest with
the soil, with the great agents and
forces of the physical universe, and
with the unruly tempers and un-
measured ignorance of men. When
a cultlvator starts upon the ace of
the new year, he should study his
facts, be sure of his premises, if he
would lead on correctly to his con-
illusions. Does he wish to know,
whether a certain improvement will
work we'll IN the midst of the OBJ
stacles and slow Developments of his
own land? Let him master the
principles of the new discovery or
invention, thoroughly digest the
condition and requirements Of his
own soil, and the most diff
cult part of his work is already ac-
complished. Is he puzzled by the
backwardness of human industry
as to its results, by the almost uni
versal paralysis of the vigorous limbs
of agriculture in certain sections of
the earth? Let him take as factors
III the problem the political agents
of the day. Let him know, that
the infinite DEGREES as enshrined in
physical law, IN the nature of the
climate, IN the abundance or
pauclty of color, IN the character of
the land, In the duration of the
seasons, are potential elements
which cannot be overlooked. In a
word, from the smallest and most
insignificant matter on the farm,
up to the highest measure IF aori-