Louisiana capitolian. (Baton Rouge, La.) 1879-1881, 1880-11-27
A SAFE BUSINESS.


Judgment, under favorable crcumstan-
ees, will make himself comfortable
home and accumulate a competence on
the farm. His industry will canse the
acres to bud and blossom, and his jndg-
ment will keep him out of the risky side
enterprises and from getting head over
heels in debt. The curse of any man or
of any business is debt, and outside
speculation usually leads the farmer into
it. As rule, it is best to stick to
one business. With few exceptions, the
man who gets too many irons in the fire
will get some of the irons burned, and
will be very lucky if he does not get
some Of bis fingers badly scorched. So
almost universal is the operation of this
rule that the world is accustomed to
wait patiently for the downfall Of any
man with two or three kinds of business
on hand, and if such q man happens to
get through oil right, instead Of getting
credit for being o legitimate exception,
he is turned Of with O simple exclama-
ton: What o lucky fellow! Successful
farming requires all the force and inge.
nuity Of one brain. Slipshod farming
will conduct itself, but not 20 good
farming. Anybody con plant and SOW,
and anybody con gather what grows.
But not everybody can do either as it
ought to be done. Farming is q COM
plicated scieuce--the grand aggregate
Of all sciences-and it requires hard
study and close attention.
Entertaining the now pretty gen Or
ally exploded idea that anybody can
farm, or that the farm will take care of
itself, many farmer has tried to live
on the farm, and devote the most, or,
70 he reasonable in expression, . part
of his time to other callings. In ninety
nine cases cut Of hundred disaster has
resulted, and both farm and outside
business have been smashed and in
view of what the past has shown in this
particular, the best advice that can be
given 10 to stick to the farm if you have
one, or to let the farm alone if you are
determined to enter lpon or contin ne
in some other business.
Therisks in farming, - already stated,
are comparatively few. There is no
danger ofruin arising from competition;
there is none arising from the treacbery
of business associates. The farm, under
ordinary circumstances 10 sure 10 furnish
enough to make the family comfortable,
and extraordinary circumstances, which
are of a providential character always,
are not very apt to exist. The farmer
is engaged in the production of articles
which the public must have. II makes
no difference what else the people do
without, they must have bread. They
can wear their old clothes, but they
must have new -four, and while
depression of the times may limit the
demand, it cannot wholly destroy it.
Thus is the farmer engaged in a business
which is always active. If other kinds
of business are fourishing, agriculture
must be Oh the very topmost round it
other kinds of business are depressed,
agriculture must still be Oh a round
little above any other business.
In mercantile or purely speculative
business, there is no certainty of safety
for week, and scarcely for an hour.
Financial panics may come and swallow
up values until the merchant is ruined
and the specnlator stranded competi-
tion may bankrupt one, ten, or scores
of merchants. But il news should come
that q farmer who had for years been
entirely free from debt, and had been
raising good crops all the time, had
gone int bankruptcy, it would astsnish