The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1881-04-16
Common Sense on the Farm.

Ii there is one man more than an
other that should be possessed of full
allowance of common sense, that man
is farmer. For the good manage
ment of a farm calls for wide knowl-
edge about many things, prompt and
correct judgment, perseverance in
somewhat dull routine of duties, and a
strict regard for duty in capacity
where ones ambition is not stimulated
by the reward of other persons admira-
ton or appreciation, and where, in fact,
ones own good conscience only impels,
and virtue is really and truly its own
reward. For the farmer lives and moves
in his own little world, where the center
of his sphere is his family, and its boun-
dairy is his outer fence; and in these
narrow limits he does his life's work.
In this little world, however, he is
moved and actuated by the very same
desires, hopes, and impulses that serve
to control other men. He desires and
works for success in his calling, for that
pecuniary profit and independence
which every man is striving for; be-
sides, if he is good farmer, he has
pride in his farm, and is pleased when
the passer-by turns his attention to his
garden, his homestead, his fences.
fields, and orchard with the affirmative
nod of appreciation. On the other hand,
he feels meanly when an ill-kept door
yard, broken gate, and fences all awry
and lettering provoke deprecatory
shake of the head as if one would say,
"This must be poor farmer, or he
would not have such a poor place about
him." And yet we would give every
farmer the credit of believing that he
intends to do the best he can in his Cir
cumstances. But every one is not en-
dowed with common sense, and so a
number fail to reach the full measure of
their intentions.
Common sense is simply good judg-
ment. 1t is to know precisely what is
expedient. 1t is an art that may be &C
quired. A man is not born with it al
ways. Some persons may be naturally
gifted with faculty for acquiring it,
but this faculty may never be de-
veloped if the education and training
have been defective. Careful training
of child or youth, or the self-control Of
a man in his maturer life, may develop
this sense in person who might other
wise appear to be naturally deficient in
Judgment. The mind must be well bal
anced it must be trained to deliberate,
to examine both sides of question, and
to decide promptly in emergencies, but
never without understanding results.
Quick apprehension is therefore neces-
sary. A man who would leap in the
dark has not common sense.
And this leads us to consider the great
fault of those who profess to teach others
the mysteries and the practices of agri-
culture. There should be good deal
of common sense about this business.
There are things that we know, and
some we don't know. Some would not
have any person talk or write of what
he does not really know of his own
knowledge. That petulant old French
writer, Montaigne said, 81 would have
every one write what he knows, and as
much as he knows, and no more" but
he did not practice as he preached. If
this were to be the rule we should stop,
because we often find out things by con-
sidering what persons say they think
they know of them, and this is the very
basis of investigation. But one who
teaches should be careful of assuming
superior wisdom. 1t is his business to
lead thought and investigation. He may
succeed in doing some things in some
particular ways, and it is his duty to re-
late precisely what he has done and how
he did it, and then leave others who
read of it to act as their own common
sense dictates. But he may, at the same
time, suggest thoughts for Others to de-
velop. Men nowadays like to get their
knowledge done up in packages,
sealed and labeled, SO that
they may take it ready made
without the trouble of preparing it. But
this is where they fail to use common
sense. Information is to be digested
and assimilated, just as food is taken in
to the stomach and dissolved and fill
tered and made available for the partic-
ular requirements of the vital force, and
the waste is cast out, A man who
spends his life in some particular pur-
suit, if it is no more than feeding cows
and making butter, and is intelligent,
and gives his mind to his pursuit and
makes it his study, becomes an expert !;
and agricultural literature is made up
of the thoughts and experiences and
suggestions of such men. 1t is, there
fore, simply the exercise of common
sense to give due weight to these opin-
ions and suggestions, and if one fails to
realize all he expects from them, to lay
the failure rather to his own want of
aptness than to the mistakes of the ex-
pert
A farmer will, then, take common
sense view of his business by consider
ing it as one of the most agreeable,
healthful, independent, secure and COM
Portable employments to be chosen. He
will be proud of it and teach his chill
dren to be proud of it, and not consider
the labor involved as drudgery, nor the
soiling of his boots, clothes or hands as
dirty business.
The field first, and then the barn and
then the house will be considered; for
the field builds the barn and the house,
and fine barn and snowy house never
yet made field rich. "Prepare thy
work without and make it fit for myself
in the field, and afterward build thine
house," was the wise mans common
sense view of it But he should by no
means be too careful in this respect, for
it is a wise economy and common sense
to make his house home in every way
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