The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1879-10-09
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1879.

teeming with bOuntieS and beauties to
sustain and delight, yet there is not an
individual who partakes of the one, or
enjoys the other, without the exercise of
personal effort, without actual labor,
physical or intellectual. who does not ig-
ANONYMOUSLY ride into the possession and
enjoyment OF them, upon the back of the
over burdencd working man of the age:
Among the thousands and tens of
thousands of channels and avenues
through which physical and mental force
are applied to utilize the bounteous gifts
of nature for the benefit of mankind.
none are more direct, none more prolific
in their return, than the science of Agri-
culture.
1t is the foundation of all other under
takings, the basis of all other enterprises.
Let the farmer but for a moment cease
his toll, or the result of his LAHORE be for
single year diminished. and the wheels
of all other kinds and classes of business
are instantly checked, or proportionately
retarded in their movements.
1t is sometimes said, that all the rest
of mankind are dependent upon the farm
er. But such an assertion is not only err
roneons, but it shows the lack of honest,
candid thought. on the part OF him who
makes it. For no more could the farmer
aid and cooperation of all the other kinds
and departments of business, than can
the men who are engaged in the ten
thousand other enterprises, which engage
the attention and employ the energies of
mind and muscle, succeed without the fruit
of the labor of him. whose hands till the
soil.
~ far as the success of the different
occupations is concerned, they are mutu-
ally dependent, the one upon the other.
And they can no more be separated. than
you can separate the results of mental
and physical force, as the great civilizing
agencies of the world.
1t is upon Farming. that all the world
are dependent. and not upon the farmers.
For in order that all others should be de-
pendent upon him, it is necessary that
the farmer should be entirely independ-
ent of every body else.
1t is true that the farmer, depends pri-
marily and directly, upo,n, that for sub,
sistance, upon which all Others depend
! secondarily, and indirectly
But while the farmer, without the aid
of the mechanic or manufacturer. trans
porter or trader, might exc out a meager
physical existence by plying his vocation.
vet is he dependent on the great, assOci-
ated combination of human enterprise
and skill, for comfort, safety and happi-
ness.
| To substantiate this assertion, have
but to refer you to the beginning If the
| art of hus bandry. Centuries
ago when the virgin soil was
broken by rude implements made of
wood, when its fruits were gathered by
the tedious process of plucking with the
hand. when the threshing machine con-
sisted of two sticks connected by a
thong, when the busy house wife pound
ed the corn into meal between two stones,
when the sound of the harvester, the
thresher, the mill and the loom were un-
known; l say have but to call your at
tention to the condition of husbandmen
then, and to the fact that the soil was none
the less fertile. and that men toiled just
! as long and hard as new, for You to COM
prehend, to some degree. how much the
| farmers of to day, are dependent upon
| the skill and energy of the citizen and
the mechanic. the machinest and the
transporter, for the comforts and the
happiness which you enjoy, and for the
facilities by which you are enabled to
make the cultivation Of the soil a success.
And vet there are some things which
make farming one of the most independ-
ent of all occupations, and there are
ooy,,a roo como yvhv If ShO1,16 he