Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1879-10-30

Stipulated in their contract for their ser
vices constitute the only remuneration
they receive, unless beer and cider are
furnished during harvest. The farm
'laborer" rarely boards with his employ
er. As rule he has family and lives
IN cottage on the estate. or in neigh.
boring village. Ordinarily his occupation
is one that continues during the working
years of his life. He does not expect to
rise like the 'shired man" in this coun-
try, becoming in turn laborer, aten-
ant, and land owner.
In America the ambition of nearly
every farmer is to see how many acres
be can have under cultivation. In En-.
gland the farmer seeks to produce as
much as possible from the smallest
amount of land. Here attention is
chiefly given to the quantity of the
products. There quality is of the
highest consideration In England
farming Is carried on as business
and capital is invested in it as in manu-
featuring, commerce, or transportation.
In the United States, however, farm
ing Is generally regarded as a means of
getting living, and men of means
do not engage in it as they do in other
kinds OF business. In Great Britain the
agricultural journals are few in number,
costly IL price. and adapted to the in
terests of men oflarge means and good
business qualifications. In the United
States agricultural Journals are nunler-
Gus and cheap and contain articles in
tended to meet the wants of persons
living in the country.
Great Improvements in agriculture
have been made in both countries dur
ing the past fifty years. In the United
States they have been chiefly the re-
suit Of the inventions and introductions
of implements and machines for light
ening or supersedIng human labor. BY
means of them one man is enabled 10
do the work of ten men in many kinds
of field work. Inventive talent and
mechanical skill have accomplished
marvels in rendering farm labor easy
and productive. Machinery has en-
abled our farmers to produce a larger
amount of field crops than double the
number of men can produce in almost
any other country in the world. The
enormous yield of the present year is
largely the result of favorable season.
But the enormous crops could not be
harvested without the aid of labor saving
machinery. For that matter, the seed
could not have been planted nor the
labor of cultivation been performed.
Improvements in farming in Great
Britain have been in different direc-
ton. They have consisted in develop
ing superior breeds of cattle, horses,
swine. and poultry; in introducing great
systems of drainage, and in the manu-
facture and application of fertilizers.
The changes in American agriculture
have been brought about through in
ventive talent and mechanical skill,
while those in British agriculture have
resulted from scientific investigations,
careful and long continued experiments,
and patient, thorough work, directed by
the highest intelligence. We have
made the most money by our system of
farming, but the English have added to
the value of their lands. while we have
impoverished ours. When the time
comes that we no longer have any more
virgin soil to appropriate it is likely that
we shall find it necessary to adopt the
systems of farming that are pursued in
Great Britain.