Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-12-07
Forethought in Farming.

Perhaps Of all the industrial people
farmers exhibit the least forethought in
regard to their work. The changing of
:he seasons warn them to be ready to
put in this crop or harvest that; but
beyond q little skill in these farm opera
lions, a large proportion of the farmers
do not work to the best advantage; and
she reason of it is because they do not
plan their work previous to its COM
mencement-they have very little
method or system, especially about the
small things of the farm. If a mer-
chant or a newspaper publisher Or a
real estate dealer wa to be correspond
ingly needless in his business, he would
become bankrupt in a short time. A
constant devising, a shrewd, calculation
Of the time to be employed in this job
or in that, a careful employment of the
Slack days in numerous little import
INT pieces of repairing, hauling, dig
ging, ETC., are needed to keep a strong
grasp on the farm and not let it get the
start of you. The real estate dealer or
the average lawyer goes to his Office in
the morning, attends to his large cor
respondence, keeps his necessary bust
ness engagements duties as hard IN
themselves to conduct in an orderly
way as are farm o~perations). and goes
home at night embarrassed by thoughts
of unperformed work that will hinder
him in some busy season. 1t is because
they have trained, orderly minds. The
farmer may claim that the number of
different things on the farm demanding
attention is much greater than in any
other calling. While this may be disput-
ed, yeteven grantingit, there yet remains
the truth that most farmers do not show
an equal amount Of administrative abil-
tty with the business men of the cities.
They may be "chock' full of more hard
days work than the city Office people,
but they can not make the work round
up SO well, and present so finished an
appearance.
Thus how many farmers there are who
fail to employ the spare time after corn
husking in attending to such seemingly
but by no means unimportant things as
mending a harness, repairing a fence or
shed, examining the tools and imple-
ments, and oiling, painting and mend
ing them if necessary; in looking alter
the fuel supply for the next year; in dig
ging an ugly-looking stump, or remov-
ing a bad heap of stone and rubbish; in
identifying the house and grounds; and
in many other matters, some of which,
if no attended to then, may be the
cause of serious loss of time and a sad
outburst of impolite language in the
busiest part of the year.
A great mistake lies in supposing that
good farm management does not require
a thinking, orderly and able mind as
well as other pursuits. It is just because
the farmers, as a class, are not OF that
description that they are not adequately
represented in our representative halls,
and do not seem to WELD their proper
share of influence. The higher the ideal
of agriculture becomes, and it is yearly
rising, the more is the fact recognized
that it requires no mean order Of ability
to properly manage a farm. There Is
room in it for all, and it affords a chance
for the development of the higher quail
ities Of the mind.-LansinQ Republican.