The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1881-04-22
What the Farmers Should Know.

What the Farmers Should Know.
Lot Us see what the educated farmer
n this nineteenth century ought to
know in order to be up with the times in
which he lives.
l. His work is to get out of the soil
useless, inorganic, and even poisonous
material, and transform it into shapes
in which it will serve the human race.
He must therefore know the nature OF
soils; of what they are composed; what
soils are best adapted to what products;
where he can get corn, where wheat,
where cotton, where timber, where fruits
of the various kinds. He must know
this, not merely by observation on his
own limited farm, but also by the abili-
ty to make chemical analyses. in order
that he may apply his knowledge in 9th
er localities and to other soils. He must
know this in order to know how both to
select his farm and how to till it to good
advantage. For this is automatic: he
never can get out of the soil what has
not been put into it by nature or by
himself.
2. He must know how to prepare this
soil; how to get out what he wants, and
how to leave in what he does not want.
He must therefore know how to drain it
if it is wet. how to irrigate it if it is dry,
how to till it, when it needs deep and
when shallow blowing, and when spade
husbandry. He must know how to feed
it; for he must feed his farm and his
grain and his trees,as well as his cattle,
his horses and himself. He must know
something of the nature and effect of
manures and fertilizers.
8. He must be o mechanic. His sue
cess as a farmer will depend on his
choice and use of tools; and that in turn
will depend on his acquaintance with at
least the fundamental principles OF
mechanism. The machinery adapted
to the prairie of Illinois is useless on the
hillsides of New Hampshire. He can.
not act on general recommendation OF
vendors, or even agricultural newspa-
pers; he must be able to Judge of the
adaptation of pillow and harrow and
cultivator to his own fields. He must
be practical mechanic as well. He
cannot afford to send off to the city to
machinist, or even to the village for
blacksmith or carpenter, for every
break. The modern farmer is in some
sense an engineer, and he must be able
to repair as well as to run his engine.
Whether his COWS give good milk or
poor, whether he sells his butter at fifty
cents pound, or can sell it at no price,
depends on his outbuildings and his
dairy-room; and this again depends on
his knowledge of the principles of con-
struction and ventilation.
4. Much of his labor is necessarily
performed by horses and cattle. Much
of his success depends on their condi-
ton, and on that of his pigs, hens, sheep,
etc. He must therefore be something
of veterinary surgeon. He ought to
be acquainted with animal physiology {;
to know the nature of the operations on
which their health depends; to know
what are the laws of animal hygiene,
what cOnduces to health, what promotes
disease. He ought to be familiar with
those forms of vegetable and animal
life, parasites, which are one of the
most common causes of disease and dis
aster.
5. In any farming on large scale he
must employ at times considerable help.
He has to deal with men as well as with
animal and vegetable life. He needs,
therefore, to be acquainted with men ;
to have skill in managing them; to know
how to make their industry SO adapted
to immediate and prospective needs that
the losses will be reduced to the least
possible fraction, and the returns will be
the largest possible. In other words, he
must understand the labor problem in all
it's various aspects-tenant farming, hir-
ing labor, working on shares, co-opera.
tive farming, wise distribution of labor.
His work in this respect requires much
more practical sagacity and skillful ad.
ministration than the management of q
great factory, where every branch Of
work becomes a routine, and endless
repetition. On the farm there is no rou.
tine; there is endless variety.
6. Farming is perpetual battle. Ev.
cry harvest is the spoil won on hard
fought field. The farmer must under
stand the tactics of his enemies, and
must know how to conquer them-weeds
insects, birds, various forms of disease,
late rains, long droughts, early frosts
He must know how to pit one against
the other; how to make the birds kill
the insects; how to forecast; how to ad-
just his crops so that neither q driving
rain, nor scorching drought, nor ar
early frost will neutralize all his labor
and leave him with absolutely empty
granaries. He must avoid putting al
his eggs in one basket, or all his baskets
in row, where one disaster will over.
whelm them in q common crash.
Z. He is not only manufacturer, but
merchant. His laboratory is not an en-
dowed institution. He must make il
pay. He must therefore know how tc
carry it on with the least expenditure
and the best result. To this end he
must know hismarket; that is, the mar
kets of the world. If he does not, when
his crops are gathered he is at the mercy
of spectators or middle-men, and sows
that they may reap. Of all the men in
the world, the farmer is the one who
should take the best newspaper money
can purchase, and keep himself well &C
quainted with the great worlds move
mentS.
In a sentence, the ideal farmer is q
chemist, q Psychologist, 3 manufacturer,
III IL, II nv