The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1882-07-07
PIOW.Farming.

Tho farmer who devotes his time prin-
cipally to the pillow, that is, breaking up
the land, raising grain, and other titled
annual crops, such as require the con-
slant use of the pillow, harrow and hoe,
will die 4 poor man,-particuiarly If he
pursues this system steadily through a
long series Of years. There is nc system
so laborlous as plow-farming. There is
no other returns so small 4 profit.
Diversified farming is more interesting,
more educating, refining, and more prof
table, p~eCuniarily, b a the drudgery
| Of plow-farming. Variety IN agriculture,
Ein every other department of life. lie
0Iore interesting because less labofIous
and mOuOtOnOuS.
In order to keep the farm up 10 its
highest productive capacity, as small an
area should be in crops requiring the
constant use of the pillow and harrow as
~ compatible with the greatest yield per
acre and the allotted time to be devoted
to the care of each crop. There should
e be such an extent of any n crop
rs would trespass upon the time neces-
sary TO devote TO others equally impor-
tant in their season. Flowing too much
land is the rock on which many indus
trious farmers are stranded. Other inn
pOrtant work on the farm has to be neg
leCted, the labor becomes excessive, and
the burthens of the farmer and his
family are simply an oppression which
even n galley-slave should not be sub
jccted to. 1t is this mistaken practice
which wears the life out of many farmers,
bringing on premature age, disgusting
his sons, making n slave of his wife, and
the whole life on the farm a mere ex-
istence without rest, recreation or enjoy
ment. To grow rich, 10 make money, is
the declared object of these unnatural
sacrifices and yet no man owe grew
itch by such a course, while it has I'M
poverished thousands, and left them
with exhausted lands, and rude, COM
fortress homes.
Where farm-work is q steady drag
with the effort to cultivate more acres
than the force under the control of the
farmer can accomplish in season, and
perform witt t~horoughness, the land .s
never made to do its best, and the re-
turns are generally far from profitable.
And when everything is staked on a
single crop, failure is sure to be disas-
trously often
A wen-ordered farm and system OF
farming contemplntes variety and diver
SIZED crops. Some will surely give good
returns for the seasons labor, and a
| steady income may be counted upon
with much certainty. If the farm is
largely seeded III tame grasses, the lana
will always remain productive when
placed under the pillow. Cattle, sheep
and hogs should be part of the money
crop, and good orchards should contrib
ute to the farmers income. His fowls
are neglected, as II rule, and their profit
merely nominal. The dairy product is
half lost from a lack of knowledge in its
management, and want of proper ar
rangemcnts for preserving milk and
cream and. manufacturing the best quail
ity of butter. No insignificant sum is
expended annually for sweets, largely
Consistingof inferior molasses, and adul-
teIated, unwhulesome syriIps, while
scores of gallons of the purest and most
wholesome go to waste on every farm
for want of bees to gather and store it.
The hard life and scanty remuneration
of the farmer, 80 generally complained
Of, are largely attributable to the lack of
ability to develop the full capacity of
the farm. There are numerous branches
in farming, all of which require r de-
| gree of special training to pursue with
profit.
And again, few farmers have a we'll
defined system, thatthey pursue steadily,
without permitting their plan to be
changed by disappointment and partial
failures. A well-matured plan of diver
sified farming, pursued steadily and in
diligently for ten years, will never fail
of achieving an average success which
will satisfy reasonable expectations.