The patron of husbandry. (Columbus, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1882-02-04

those who were skilled IN the same,
and we all know that most of the
available and valuable leisure OF the
planter is passed in idleness and
selfindulgence. AS long as this is
true, not much Of good can be ex-
pected to grow up among this class,
of inter communication OF crude
theories and vague speculations.
We are.more in want of the indus
trious brain than the industrious
hand. Facts may be ever so valu-
able and we'll established, but they
will still be of no avail unless care
fally, systematically and skillfully
applied. and the application does
not belong SO much to the discoverer
as to him who is urged to it by inte-
rest. The truth of the whole matter
is, we do not profit by that which is
prepared to our very hands, but pre-
fer to run in the old ruts, though
there is better ground for our wheels
contiguous thereto. While we spec
ulate enough, we fail in industrious
application. We suffer the world
of mind to lie fallow. while we de
vote much time and labor to that
which we might know beforehand
profiteth little. Nothing is gained
by much reading and parade of
knowledge without laborious exer-
ton to make it serviceable. The
science of agricuitu- e, like its mother
science Of chemistry, is practically
endless. What advantage accrues
from the knowing the better way
and pursuing the worse? What adj
vantage results from study, if there
is no application of what we acquire?
And what good can come Of appli-
cation unless perseveringly and
carefully rrried out to certain and
useful conclus on: But what | have
already said, as well as what others
have said and are saying, amounts
to nothing unless men can be in
duced to adopt as the rule of their
lives that W hich they know to be
right and useful. But how is this
to be brought about; The facts
above stated, and many others of a
like character, may be admitted, and
yet nothing good result unless mo-
tives strong enough to prompt a
change in actual conduct shall both
be adduced and Suffered to have
their legitimate effect, | know many
objections which, if they are not
urged as jastifying our present mode
Of action, do yet actunlly influence
and determine such action: such as
we know the cid ways, and because
we practice them with facility and
almost without thought and are
pretty certain TO what they will lead,
therefore we fear to adopt any new
ones for fear the experiment may
result diSastrously.
Well, in answer, | would merely
ask, where was there ever in any
thing a change for the better with
out risking something in the present
for great advantage in the future?
One cannot expect to cultivate as
many acres as now and spend much
time and money in ia1proving per
manentlv even a few One or the
other must be given up. Either we
must enrich what we can convent
emily tend, or we must go on ex-
'hausting the whole. 1t is for the
planter TO determine for himself
which is the wiser course: to sacri-
fee a small advantage in the pres
sent for great future good, which
he ackno Wedges to be the dictate
of wisdom, or TO reap the present
advantage and suffer the future evil.
II he 10 the latter, he must charge
himself with un wisdom if not with
absolute folly. He knows the con
sequences. Let him not complain,
nor even look into the future with
dependency In either case the
result is certain; and even if it were
not, he is equally culpable, for GER
tainty is within his reach. He
knows full well what hampers and
annoys him as things now are, and
all others who practice as he does,
and he knows how it is with those
who have adopted the opposite
course. He knows, by observation
and reading, why the tllers of the
soil in the North and in Europe are
more successful and prosperous than
he himselfis; and it we'll becomes
him, SO knowing, to.modify his ac-
ton after finding out how this may
be done. He sees the wisdom of so
doing; he has the intellectual capa-
city to compass it and admits that it
is not impossible of accomplishment.
Who then is to blame if the situation
continues as it is? Does he not see
that his children will have harder
task than he has if they continue to
live where he now does, and that he
is only shifting the burden from his
own shoulders to those of others
who are to come after him? Has he
to be told that such action as this in
the economy of Gods moral uni
verse always result in injury to the
perpetrator? If, because of his love
of ease, he makes life harder to 9th
ers-be they his children or his la
borers-has he TO be told that in SO
doing he makes it now or hereafter
worse for himself? or does he think
that while he must necessarily obev
Gods physical laws he may with
impunity neglect his intellectual