The patron of husbandry. (Columbus, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1881-11-19
Inc object OF Farming-D. yh.
dc Wa EmrmS

taat tney had no such thing as a
well defined object II! view, and
that a system of we'll studied and
carefully laid plans of operation IS
something not to be thought of foy
single moment Before a man
can meet WITH ,islbls success in
agricultural pursuits he must brine
some brain work to his assistance
as well as the abundance Of hare
manual labor which every f.rme
knows is essential Manual Iabo,
TO the farm what the propeillng
force is to vessel at sea. The brain
work will compare f4vorabIv with
the compass, ruddet and Steering
apparatus. Neither can lucceed
well without the other.
1t is possible for a vessel to sail
without compass and after DAYS
or weeks Of aimless and uncertain
wandering reaGh tbs objective port
with a jaded crew. So a farmer
who does not plan and make his
business his life study, may, after
much almless work and WANDERING
=
ABOUT IN darkness and uncertainty.
reach a port of com paratiVe success
IN business. But even though such
a man reach the much sought realm
OF prosperity he can only regard it
as little more than an accident, or
happen so, and unless he make his
business a study as men in other de
partments do theirs he will soon
lose the position he accidentally
gained. have one or two very
good examples in my mind now,
but would hesitate to mention them
IN particular, even Were it necessary.
No doubt most OF you who read
this can call to mind instances with
IN your own knowledge.
A man who embarks in a busi.
ness enterprise is presumed 10 have
some particular object in view wor
thy the time, means and labor en-
ployed in its accomplishment. If
ne has not he would better save the
money invested and preserve his
bodily strength by joining the dis
ciples of good old Jack Walton.
and go a anglong" until he can
study up some object which would
pay him for his trouble The game
must be worth bagging or the hunt
er loses in the operation. / take II
that every farmer whose eve scans
this column has embarked in the
business of agriculture primarily for
the purpose Of securing to himself
and family the necessaries of life.
and secondly to surround himself
and provide his home with as many
possible of those numerous little
Injuries which help to smooth down
the rough places in a mans life and
make his pathway bright. IF we
are farming for meat and bread. the
the cheapest and sprest way in the
end for us to obtain those two neces-
saries Of life is to go right TO work
and produce them on our own
farms. | have found by experience,
that | have always had a sufficiencv
of those things which | pretended
to produce myself, but frequently
my demand for those things I had
to buy, excluded my ability to sup
ply. SO it is in this section Of the
country to day, and has been for
everal years. Farmers first aban
doued raising wheat, then gradually
killed of, all the hogs in the country
until now the majority are abso-
Iutely dependent on the farmers of
the North and West fer meat and
bread Hundreds Of car loads of
meat and flour have been shipped
into the city Of Dallas within the
last twelve months, for which far
Taers have paid I25 cents per h. and
s. So per hundred respectively in
cotton which they have sold at an
average of little, (if any?) better
than s cents per pound.
AS natural consequence /
know many farmers who are
now fasting upon the fruits Of
their own mismanagemenc. The
scanty supply of home cured
pork has been consumed. 10! these
many months. Their only resort is,
to the merchant who sells Northern
bacon, TO the neighborhood butcher
who furnishes fresh beef periodi-
cally, or 10 the poultry yard. The
two former are too expensive, and
the latter entirely insufficient for
any laboring man.
Wheat for bread they never have,
and to a great extent the corn field
and neighborhood corn mill IS re
sorted to for large supply of
breadstuff. Verify we are reaping
our reward and the result of our
blindness this time may lead rs to
light in the future
The trouble is we have become
cotton growing monomaniacs; we
think we see strange and great
wonders to be accom- plishcd by rais-
ing cotton to the exclusion of most
other farm products. We imagine
that in cotton we have found that
eide in the affairs Of men, which,
taken at its fl 5od, leads to fortune
But when we remember that the
| South, put to her full capacity, is
capable of supplying all the legih-
innate commercial demands for cot
ton many times over. it strikes me
that any increase of the present
acreage in cotton for some ye"rs