The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1879-07-24
Study on the Farm.

To EVERY farmer say: ''Be stu
dent" "What, a farmer and a stu
dentp" Yes, certainly, both, and the
better the student the better the farmer.
l like that word student. In its
original meaning it signified ''to de-
sire strongly" ITO be eager for" ard
implied the putting in operation and
diligently using every means to secure
the end desired. How applicable this
is to the farm in all its departments! 1t
must not be supposed that study ap-
plies only to books. 1t is true there are
many works treating on his profession
that the farmer cannot neglect or pass
over without loss, and the same is true
of the current agricultural periodicals;
they should not be sighted. But it is
not intended that the farmer should
turn aside from the field and shut him.
self up in study, and turn book
worm. 1t is the farm above all things
else that he should strive to gain COM
plete knowledge of, and that practical
ly. To be wide-awake and progressive,
however, farmers should obtain all in
formation possible from every source,
and digesting and modifying it, use it
as a means of charging their ex-
perience. which is too often confined to
only that descending from the father.
But this is only means to an end.
The farmer must learn thoroughly his
farm. He must know its soil; its needs
and its adaptability. He should be
eager to find out in what department,
or branch of farming, he is likely to
obtain the best results. He is to study
its Improvement, both in increasing its
production, and in its appearance. A
good farmer will take pride not only in
obtaining the greatest product per
acre, but in having the finest-looking
farm in the neighbOrhood. In i'm
proving its appearance as farm he
certainly will increase its yield. Study
the farm.
Then study the crops. Learn their
needs, their best mode of cultivation,
and the most approved implements for
their cultivation. All these the farmer
should be eager to know. He should APP
ply TO every experience, to experiment,
and even to much-abused theory, not
his own knowledge alone but all to
which he has access. Because man
has raised certain crops all his life
time does not prove he knows all about
them, or even that he knows the best
methods of treating them. He should
desire and strive for the best, cleanest
and most remunerative helds and crops
in his community, and no one should
be able to excel him. This study
makes more difference with farmers
than is generally supposed. It has
more to do with the success of one and
the failure of another, than any differ
ence in soil or opportunity. A sue
cessful farmer must study his stock.
Sometimes I think q farmer can be
better judged by his stock than in any
other way. A good farmer seldom has
poor stock, and, pretty generally,
poor farmer seldom owns good stock.
The effect that mans animals have
upon him cannot lie over-estimated.
A thrifty farmer will not only have
good cattle, but he will study to know
them, their temperament, their habits,
their needed care and their income.
He will learn the safest and surest way
OF obtaining that income from them,
and in satisfying their wants he will
take new interest and pride in them
because of their grateful and improved
condition, as 3 matter of safety and
economy. He should study his stock,
too. I knew farmer of thirty years
experience who, raising q very fine
heifer from which he expected some
thing better than usual, lost her after
her first calf because he did not know,
as he said, "cows' bags ever got
lumpy, and / didn't know that any
thing was the matter until too late,
and didn't know what to do, anyhow"
Nor should farm machinery be slight
ed OF neglected. The farmer should
not only know how to handle his pillow,
but he should learn the principles in
volved in its construction. He should
comprehend, too, the superiority of
one implement over another. 1t will
not do to trust to statesmen or their glib
tongues, or yet to rely entirely on the
experience of others, for what one will
handle intelligently and successfully
will prove q failure in the unthinking
hands of another. In the Franco
Prussian war it was admitted that the
chief superiority of the Prussians was