The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1884-05-07
Education Needed on the Farm.

Education Needed on the Farm.
One often hears a remark made to
the effect that any fool can be farmer,
or that education is wasted on one who
only tills the soil for living. These
remarks were nearer the truth, perhaps,
years ago, when the country was new
The virgin soil would yield abundent
crops almost without care on the part of
the husbandman, and insect enemies,
blight, rust, etc., were nearly unknown.
But now such sayings are far from true,
and we are beginning to realize that
knowledge is power" on the farm Just
as surely as anywhere else in. the world.
Forty years ago our tolls were Of the
simplest and rudest kinds, and not much
intelligence was required to use them.
To-day some of the finest machinery
made is on the farm, and the farmer
needs skill and brains to use these i'm
proved tools to the best advantage,
rather than muscle to do heavy work
The day has passed when muscle
rules the world. The battle axe and
spear were muscle; the rifle and the
cannon are brains. The stage-coach
and the courier are muscle; the rail-
way train and telegraph are brains. On
the farm, the scythe was muscle; the
moving machine is brains. The grain
cradle and sickle were muscle; the self
binder is brains. The farmer of the
future will need to be, to large extent,
an engineer and director of labor, and a
student, instead of a simple laborer, as
the farmer of the past was. The sooner
we accept this and govern and educate
ourselves land our children accordingly,
the more profitable will our farming be.
If "any fool can be farmer" and make
a living out of it, what are the possibili-
ties of farming under skillful and in
telligent management? Even in the
most simple operation of the farm, edu-
cation will be of use to us every day,
not only in enabling us to direct our
work to the best advantage, but in Civ
ing us the ability to keep account of
everything, and know whether certain
practice or crop pays US or not.
A hired man once said to me. "You
are the best hand at guessing l ever
saww had told him there would be
over six loads of hay to get up, but not
quite seven. He made the remark when
we 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 swarths, each one of which was six
feet. | knew how wide the rake was
and how many rakefuls we could put on
a load. So after raking once down
through the piece, a little mental arith-
metic told how many loads there would
be. One can tell how much man
ought to pillow, cultivate or harrow in a
day. l remember once that | went
away, to be gone all day, leaving new
hand to harrow piece of land for wheat.
At night I found he had got over only
six acres with harrow six feet 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
- & .apain.
Suppose you have = Saunnost heap
which you wish to put on twelAl acres
of ground. You walk around the Aeap.
if il is round one, stepping 8 feet at :,
step. It is ffty-four PAGES around it.
You look at it and see that if it was
leveled down to where you walked, it
would average about feet hig There
fore you say 81 yards (the eircumfer
enee1, multiplied by a, half the radius,
will give the number of cubic yards in
the pile-243. You know that your
manure spreader will hold just about /
cubic yard at load so you set it 10
spread 20 loads per acre, and come out
all right-no guess work about it. Some
years ago had a heavy piece Of corn to
cut. a faithful man was set at the
Job, and he only made about fiye-eights
of an acre day. / compared the weight
of stalks and grain he had to handel
with what he would have to do on an
average piece, and was satisfied that he
was doing well. One night one sof those
'sblowing 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 fence" Very
wei. , said /. acome tomorrow and cut an
acre; / will pay you $3.50, and you can
have the fun of showing Adam how
little he knows about cutting corn. he
came before was up, and at noon, be-
ginning to realize that he had something
to de, he never stopped for his hours
incoming, but took bite and ran; but il |
was three o'clock thesecond day before
he had his acre cut. When he vas /
laughed at about it. he used to say,
The college boy was too much for me.
suppose you are dairyman, and /
raise wheat aud potatoes to sell also. (