Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1882-06-15
The Coming Farmer.

/ q 4ilI SC DOI LlOJt III UCllSbGG vi
the island in the face, and the entire
fabric of English society, which
rested largely on landed proprietor,
! ship as basis, is threatened with
disorganization. It is alleged that
cheap freights, which have brought
our cheap Western lands into di-
rect competition with British farms
in their home market, has caused the
ruin, and it is argued that the same
influence is depressing agricultural
industry east of the Alleghanies in
our own country, our less easily
titled land being practically removed
! by railroads one thousand miles
away from market to the side of fer
tile prairie stretches, SO that in the
unequal struggle The East must go
down. Ills urged that our farmers
are generally complaining of their
hard lot and mourning for the good
old times forever gone. We are told
Of mortgage foreclosures and home
steads sold, and finally it is guess
| toned whether as civilization adj
vances the farmer must not gradual
ly sink in the social scale to the level
of the peasants III the Old World
Now the fact is that farmers to-
day get bstter prices for their crops
On the whole than they did in tie
good old days, and they can buy
more with their money. In cases
where farms are sold by the sheriff
--cases not SO numerous as our
prophets Of evil imagine-it will be
found that ventures outside of the
farmers legitimate industry-yen-
lures prompted by that speculative
spirit engeudered during the demor-
a.izing rush and havoc of war times
have been largely responsible for
3 h Sc melancholy failures. Never
| theless il must be admitted that
there was more of what passed for
| 50 id comfort in the free and easy
times OF old than there is to-day
throughout the farming community
! AGd there ought to be Farmers
dress better, live in better
houses and read more than
| their fathers did. That their wants
are of higher class and more varied
proves that they are rising above the
social plane where their fathers were
content to remain instead of sinking
to the peasant level. They set out
upon the race of life at swlfter gait,
and in order to hold the pace they
must use brain as well as muscle.
and brain work is wearing work
The solid comfort OF, the good old
days Was really solid comfort-the
sluggish satisfaction of an animal
with his stomach full. The farmer
nowadays who is content with this
drOwsy existence will inevitably be
left. for his children will demand and
receive what other children have; and
If the farm is managed on the sloven
method employed by our grandfath-
ers-tbat is, if it is allowed to run
itself-it will not supply the neces-
sites OF modern life.
In every community there can be
found farmers who do more than sub
sist on the products of their acres.
They prosper in business because
they conduct their farms on business
principles. With the necessity of
getting a more productive increase
from the soil comes the necessity of
more study and more knowledge
The time has come when the close
calculating Of the manufacturer must
be applied to agricultural practice.
In the factory profits are made by
saviug the small percentage of waste,
! ny adopting labor saving contri-
yances, by watching the markets, by
making as much finished product
and OF as good quality as possible
with a given amount of raw material
procured at the lowest possible
outlay. The manufacturer who
fails to keep abreast of
every improvement i'll method and
skill is sure to fail, and the time has
come when the same fate awaits the
farmer. Ii he manufactures butter,
he must run his COWS, which are his
machinery, with the same watchful
aud intelligent care which is eXer~
clsed by his neighbor who conducts
a sugar refinery OF cotton mill.
He must see that his COWS have a
perfectly balanced ration, with the
properly proportional amounts OF
protein, starch and fat. He must
get his rations at the cheapest posi-
bic rate, and follow the example OF
other manufacturers who sell u I'm
ished product and buy a waste pro-
duct, ne will sell his grain and buy
cottonseed meal, brewers, grains,
bran and other wastes OF manufacture
to make his finished butter product
He will not strive TO make more but
ter than his neighbor unless he can
prove that the extra pound can be
prUitably made. He will make spe-
cial study OF the subjects immediate
ly connected with the particular
branch of agriculture which he prac-
tees, and he will supplement his
own experience by the teaching o.
recoa nized authorities, and he will
make use of every assistance which
can be rendered by such accurate
governments as are conducted anC
recorded at our best agrlcultur~
Fxoeriment Stations. In othel
words. he will not be content to re-
main a mere laborer, but he vii
assume his true position as the adj
ministrative head of compl1catt
but intelligently constructed ane
well-ordered system.
Farming of this kind will pay to
day and in the future. 1t Will pa
not only in the narrow pecunlaf
sense, but it will grow a crop OF bet
ter men. The coming farmer VIII