The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1884-03-21
Education Needed on the Farm.
Some Simple CalculatiOns-The Adyan
tages OF Understanding Them.

| Some simple CaiculatiOns-TheA dvan.
tages OF Understanding Them.
A hired man once said to me: "You are
the best hand at guessing ever sawp | had
told him there would be over six loads OF
hay to get up, but not quite seven. He made
the remark when were going to the barn
with the seventh load not quite full. Now
there was no guess work about it. ! knew
the width of the strip cut, from the number OF
swaths, each of which were six feet. knew
how wide the rake was, and how many rake
fuls we could put on load So, after AK
ing once down through the piece, u little
mental arithmetic told how many loads there
would be. One can tell how much man
ought to pillow or harrow in day, | re
member once that went away, to be gone
all day, leaving a new hand to harrow piece
of land for wheat. AT night found he had
wide. He insisted that he had done all he
could. But after he had seen the figures on
board, and found he had travelled less than
one mile an hour, he was quite ashamed,
and said: "It's no use trying to fool you on
days work" and he never tried again.
Suppose you have big compost heap,
which you wish to put on twelve acres of
ground. You walk around the heap, if it is
a round one, stepping 3 feet at step. 1t is
81 PAGES around it. You look at it and see
if it were leveled down to where you walked,
it would average about 3 feet high. There
fore you say "a yards (the circumference
multiplied by AZ, half the radius, will give
the number of cubic yards in the pile-243.
You know that your manure spreader will
hold just about l cubic yard at a load; so
you set it to spread 20 loads per acre. and
come out all right-no guess work about it,.
Soma vaarc ono I bol haaUy nippa IF
corn to cut. A faithful hand was set at the
job. and he only made five-eighths ofan acre
day. compared the weight of the stalks
and grain he had to handle with what he
would have to do on an average piece, and
was satisfied that he was doing well One
day one of those GLOWING" men came along !:
why" said he, "Adam isn't doing anything.
| can go in there and cut an acre day just
as easy as sitting ON the fence" Every we'll"
said |, "come to morrow and cut an acre;
will pay you a $3.50, and you can show
Adam how little he knows about cutting
corn" He came before was up, and at
noon, beginning to realize that he had some
thing to do, hr never stopped for his hours
nooning hut took bite and ran; but it was
three O'clock the second day before he had his
acre cut. When he was laughed at about it
he used to say, "rhe college boy was to
much for me-"
Suppose you are n daIryman, and raise
wheat and potatoes to sell also. You want
ten tons of corn meal to feed your cows on
in the winter, and so you plant corn. Now
a careful account kept for a term of years may
show you that while you are making money
from your wheat and potatoes, you are los.
ing on your corn. Or on account ofhaving q
home market for the corn, and no good mar
ket for the potatoes, and not time enough to
proper " care for them, the corn may prove
best. Knowing the facts, you can raise what
will pny you best. The day has passed when
it is nee, ssary for farmer to raise every
thing he wants for his own use. might go
on showing you where education would be of
advantage to you every day of your life, and
in every lot on your farm. Farming, or
agriculture, is an art, based on a number of
sciences, and the more we know of our
line of farming, the better We can run the
farm.
Not long since when coming out of hall
with company of farmers who had been
listening to scientific lecture by a noted
college president, one of them asked another
"Well, what did you think of that?" "Oh
suppose it was good enough" he replied, "but
it wouldn't feed the pigs and milk the cows"
He was one of the kind of men who snecr at
book farmers, and think "any fool can be q
farmer" But, thank God, we have some far
mers who are not content merely with being
able to carry swill TO pigs and strip the cows
l have been surprised this winter to see so
many old men and women, seventy or seven
five years old lin one case | saw three persons
seventy five years old in one load), get out to
farmers institutes and pay close attention to
the lectures, even when they we're quite scien-
tific. This is well, but let the older ones not
forget to educate the children. You may
may leave them good farm, but they may
be swindled out of it. Leave them educa.
ton and no man can steal it, and if they
want farm, they can soon earn TT. b.
Ferry IN Country Gentleman.