The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1883-02-10
Farmers With A Hobby.

A hobby is simply the development of
specially. A man may make
specially of certain branch Of trade or
business, and yet not pursue it as a
hobby. In fact, man with hobby Is
usually looked upon as man who pur-
sues one idea TO the exclusion Of ell
other, useful or otherwise. Much, how
ever, as he has been sheered at, he is the
one of all others likely TO make great
discovery, or invent something which
the world in time will think almost in
dispensable. All or nearly all of our
great inventions have been the work of
men with hobbies, some of whom were
turing their lifetime looked upon by
their acquaintance as insufferable bores,
if not as nuisances or lunstics. II agri-
| culture, as is sp.nctimes claimed, is be-
hind other industries, il is because fewer
men have pursued some branch of it as
hobby. There are few farmers, it is
true, who have specialties and engage
in them with vigor, and, as a rule, these
men succeed better than those who
drift along easily without making an
effort to excel in any special branch Of
agriculture.
The specialist makes more rapid pro-
gress than his ncighbors, not because he
works any harder, but BECAUSE he Is
usually better informed in regard to his
business for he cannot expect to excel
unless he seeks knowledge from other
sources than bis own labors a. d expert
ments. knowledge is but the accumu-
lation of the IDEAS and experience Of
those who have preceded us, and the
man who reads is pretty certain to learn
something which he did not know, and,
more than all, he will get the ideas out
of which he can Involve others, thus
adding TO the sum total of human knowl-
edge.
We confess that in our experience a
man without hobby is, as rule, a
rather duh fellow, and the more useful the
hobby is likely to be, the better we like
the possessor of it. We hail with pleas
ure the appearance of such men among
farmers, for there Is abundant room for
them, and great discoveries must natur-
ally come from close application and
persistent pursuit Of the end or object
sought for. There is scarcely grain,
fruit, or vegetable cultivated that could
not be improved by iudicious and intelli-
gent management, and the same may
be said OF every breed of domestic ami
mails. In addition, new varieties and
breeds may be brought into existence
whenever desired
OF course we would not have q man
neglect his business or impoverish him
self, as some have done, in order to pur-
sue an impracticable idea. but when
ever it is plain that better thing is
needed than we possess, and there Is a
chance of producing 1t, it Is d commend
able act TO make the attempt, even il a
complete failure be the result There
are usually hundred failures to every
really great success, but this should not
discourage any one from trying to see
what he can do in the field where the
failures are the most numerous. Thou
sands upon thousands of vessels have
been lost on the ocean, but this has not
prevented the building of great and sue
cessful ocean steamers. The inventors
of reapers and mowers did not escape
failures, some of which were disastrous;
but these men had hobby, and they
pursued it until they triumphed over
every obstacle. A farmer may raise a
! hundred new varieties of corn or other
grain, not one of which will be in any
way superior to the parent sort, and
then he may try again, and the very first
one will be far superior to anything OF
the kind he has seen, at least for his own
farm and adjacent regions; for it should
be borne in mind that a farm product OF
breed of animals may be adapted to one
locality and not to another.
Our farmers are gradually coming to
look at this subject of adaptation of
plants and animals to certain locations,
soils and climates in its proper light;
hence the increase Of late years of special
lists among the more intelligent agricul-
turists throughout the country, Expert
ence has shown that what is called gen
eral or mixed farming is not the most
| profitable anywhere. The reason is to
be found in the extreme variation in our
soils and climate One farm or limited
region of country may be we'll adapted
to the growth of wheat and oats, another
to corn and potatoes, while Others pro-
duce excellent hay and pasture grasses,
and are therefore especially adapted to
tht IdiolIg vi slOch anu Iuc production
of butter and cheese. Then there are
regions especially adapted to the raising
of certain kinds of fruits and vegetables,
all of which, when discovered, becomes
of value to those who may choose to take
advantage of circumstances.
If any farmer would select some par
ticulaf breed of domestic animals to ex-
perimentewith, or kind of grain, fruit,
or vegetables, and make it hobby,
much good could scarcely fail to result
from his efforts; and if he is fortunate
enough to produce something better
than has heretofore been known. finan-
cial reward awaits him. We want to see
variety of corn that will bear twice the
quantity of grain and no more stalks
and leaves than any now in cultivation.
We are quite confident that such a va
riety is within the range of possibilities,
and the man who has the time and in
clination to pursue such hobby long
enough can scarcely fail of success, pro-
vided he resides in a good corn-growing
country. We are inclined to think that
it can be done by selections alone, with
some of our most prolific sorts. 1t may,
however, require the crossing of two OF
more varieties; but this can only be de-