The patron of husbandry. (Columbus, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1881-07-02
The Importance OF Agriculture.

The Importance of Agriculture.
Editor Patron. | am truly sorry
that so many farmers fail TO realize
the true importance and dignity of
agricultural pursuits. Thousands,
| fear, follow the pillow from morn
ing until night breathing at almost
every step wish to be somewhere
else-possibly in some far away
city measuring calico or pleading
with city tongue the cause Of our
numerous clients before the bar of
| justice-thinking too little about our
own business pursuits and trying
| too little to make every department
Of our own business yield its pro-
per proportion of the annual in
come. We are always too prone to
look on the dark side, and imagine
that our business in point of useful
ness, dignity and just remuneration
for honest labor, stands at the bot
tom and far below every other voca-
ton whereof the hand or mind of
man may be engaged This grumb-
ling at and finding fault with a
mans occupation should never be;
and | sometimes have thought that
the man who complains SO con-
stantly has-in some manner missed
his calling and aspired to be an at
| torney and counselor at law, when,
in justice to himself and his clients,
he should have been content to learn
well the trade of a shoemaker or a
blacksmith; or the dissatisfied far
mer should nave parted his hair in
the middle and set himself up as
| chief bottle washer in some first
class drug store. | say | sometimes
htfHk such things but may be doing
The dissatisfied one an injustice. | am
aware that some of us have apparent
cause to complain; yet is it not true
| that if we cast about us many Of
the difficulties and faults may be
| found to exist within ourselves and
our own Encouragement? Be that
as it may however. it occurs to me
that we farmers should consider
ourselves fortunate in having less of
which to justly complain than men
in most any other legitimate bust
ness enterprise.
We are engaged in that pursuit
which gives life to, and invigorates,
all others; and by carefully attend,
ing strictly to our own business and
watching the corners as does the
banker or the merchant we will
soon see our business systemetised
and each individual farmer working
his farm and manipulating his stock
in accordance with business princi-
piles and plans previously adopted.
To do this successfully requires
much study and thought on the part
of the farmer, and this is one thing
of which we all do too little, CON
sidering the importance of our ope-
rations. Our business moves the
the world and is constantly per-
fecting civilization--each year rails.
ing it further above the rude hut
and primitive customs of the abo-
riginees.
We at the pillow are the men who
drive the iron horse snorting across
the land, drawing after him his
long train of loaded cars; we send
forth to foreign ports the great ships
of immense burden loaded with our
surplus products; the constant hum
and rumble of machinery heard in
all parts of the land is by us and
for us; the almost countless num-
Der of spindles and looms would
long ago have been rust eaten and
dirty but for the products of our
great industry. 1t is our business
to feed and clothe the world and if
we fail to do it the world must 90
naked and hungry.
| Let US imagine all farming opera
tons suspended; let us all lake to
the shade and fold our arms in idle
and peaceful contentment for few
seasons, and who among us can pic
ture the narrowing scenes which
would follow as inevitably as day
succeeds night? The suffering
among the. good women and the
blessed little children, 81 would fain
hurry by" and give only the e General
enactments which are shown TO nv
mind by the imagination like a NOV
ing panorama. see strong men
become emaciate, hollow-eyed and
weak; | see all men shoarding up
every scrap of meat, and scrupui
lously saving and vigilantIy guard
ing every dust of flour and meal; the
mills have ground the last grain, ev-
cry hole and crevice has been
greedily busted out, and the great
establishments which once CONVEX
ted our grain into -four are shut
down and deserted as useless save
for hiding places for bats and owls:
gold no longer buys the necessaries
OF life, and woe unto the banker, the
stock jobber, the cotton broker and |
the money lender; petty thefts,
which before would never have at
tracted attention or occasioned
comment, have now grown to
the magnitude of an atrocious Grim !
inal offence, and under the new code
which prompts every man to care
for his own and naught else, the
offender is shot down.
The enacments which follow in