Huntsville gazette., 1883-11-10
Hired Help on the Farm.

skill in dealing with men tnan
ON any other single item in farm man.
agement. On every farm much of the
labor done must be hired. The farmer
who understands human nature can Sc
cure more effective and cheaper help
than he who does not. AS rule. farm
EMPLOYEES are difficult set to deal with
Ihe more enterprising and intelligent are
apt to get the Western fever early and
seek homes for themselves. Occasion
| ally Young man of good habits and
intelligence works for others on the farm
a few seasons to get the capital to COM
mence farming on his own account.
These make altogether the best help,
and should be secured at almost any
reasonable price they may ask. An ig-
uorant, unskilled blunderer will waste
and destroy twice the amount OF his
wages in a single season. Good farm
ing consists in carefulness in little
things. When we consider how few
farmers are able to stand this test, the
wonder is that when much of the details
of farm work is left to hired help, there
should be as much good farming as
there is.
When faithful and intelligent hired
man has been found. all his reasonable
demands should be satisfied. Better use
farm tools without oiling than have
hired man constantly grumbling. The
! friction will do less damage on the in
sensate iron than on the human temper
and feelings. The hired man need not
| and should not be ''boss," but good
| farmer will not hesitate to consult him
at times, and listen to, if not follow, his
| advice. Two heads are better than one,
| and there are few men so ignorant as
not to know more about certain things
than their employers. 1t is common for
farmers to resent any advice from their
employees as impertinence; but the fact
that advice is thus resented shows that
the farmer who does so is in some doubt
as to his position. Young farmers and
those having little experience in the
business are most apt to have trouble
with their hired men, and this mainly
because they are afraid to lower their
dignity by asking the opinion of their
employees. If young man is intelli-
gent he will not take kindly to such
treatment, and this is one reason why
so few of the better class of young men
seek employment on the farm.
1t is essential to the best success with
farm help that they should have the
fullest confidence of their employer and
be interested in their work. Men will
not and can not work as well for poor
as for good farmer, not alone because
they have less to do with, but because
the enthusiasm of interest will in one
case impel the help to do their utmost,
while lack of interest will retard every
effort When work is progressing fa-
vorably it is easier to do good days
labor than when it is tagging, and the
better the help the more difference this
feeling will create Poor help is of the
kind that does things mechanically,
and with such it may matter little
whether the work is reasonable and
effective or not. A story is told of an
| English farmer, who, on hiring a new
man, first employed him in doing the
most unreasonable and preposterous job
of which he could think. The next dav
he set him to undoing what he had
done before. The man went at his
task each time without word of pro-
test, or even seeming to care what he
was set to do, so long as his pay was
sure. The rich farmer at the end of the
|
had found man who would do exactly
what was told him without thinking or
| carinp for the result. In other words,
| he was seeking a mere machine, and
had secured one to his liking. A man
is not machine, however, even if he
is farm hand hired bv the month.
Whoever seeks to transform him into a
machine not only in jures his manhood,
| l1,,f ,f.a
worker.
In every way possible hired help
should be made interested in that which
they are doing. If a farmer discusses
his plans and calculations his employees
will soon take an intelligent interest in
the work they are doing. Then, if the
employer is taken sick, or some unex-
pected emergency calls him away, one
among his employees will be able to take
the lead and arrange to keep the work
in progress. 1t may be necessary some
times to employ men who do things
mechanically, but where several men
are employed one or more among them
should be competent and be authorized
to take charge of affairs when the en-
ployer is not present.
| i ne 1acG mas OIten Deen noted that
employees will work better and more
freely for rich man than for poor
one. In the days of slavery Southern
negroes used to boast of the wealth and
respectability of their owners, as re-
flecting luster on themselves, and some
thing of this feeling is quite common
among hired help with regard to their
employers. Nothing succeeds like sue
cess, and no man can do his best when
working on practical failure. A lazy,
drunken farmer may often have a kind,
sensible and loving wife; but he can
not keep good hired man two seasons
in succession. As rule, the better the
farmer the more thorough his culture,
and the more promptly he keeps up
with his work the better the class of
help he can employ. Keeping in adj
vance of work is doubly important, for
if farmer gets behind, his men see his
helplessness and do about as they
| please. Generally a farmer will not
have any trouble about help leaving