Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1885-11-19
FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.
The Farmers and Their DUTY.

The following remarks from a New
York contemporary are so much in accord
with our own views, that we give them
A place in our columns as worthy of all
acceptation: 1.-THE many complaints
which come from the farmers unques-
tionably have some foundation. The past
year has not been a very prosperous one
for those who devote a large share OF
their labor to the raising Of wheat, and
the crop of the previous year, though
abundant in quantity. sold at so low a
price that the farmer was much disheart-
ened. But his embarrassments are in a
large measure due to mistakes, which he
himself can remedy, If he will. Certain
II, the experience of the past few years
ought to lead to IN earnest and deter
mined effort to improve the methods OF
agriculture in this country, so that the
prosperity of this great industry may de-
pend less than it does now upon the pro-
duction Of a few chief staples for distant
markets. The farmer, as well as the
country, needs Investigation of industry,
and greater economy in production. He
needs to produce at less cost than hither-
to, and to adapt production more nearly
to the demands of the home market, and
to become himself a manufacturer as well
as q farmer, turning out less Of the raw
materials called corn, hay or wheat, and
more of the finished products, cattle,
hogs, butter, cheese, poultry and eggs.
In the youth Of agriculture here, with q
virgin soil apparently of inexhaustibie
fertility, the farmer naturally devoted his
attention first to the production OF grain,
for which there was u ready market, and
which could be produced with least de-
Law. Crude and wasteful methods were
tolerated, because the unwearied soil
Welded a~bundantly with little labor and
no fertilizing. Land was plenty, and il
the soil began to wear out, the farmer
would always move further west, to cul.
tivate new land again after the old
methods. Thus, agriculture has been
sweeping across the country, so to speak,
scratching the surface and wastefully ex-
hausting the soil, but nowhere develop
ing economy in production, nor giving
due attention to that diversity Of labor
and of production which will secure the
best results in the long run. But the
advancing settler from the East, now
meets in Montana the advancing settler
from the Pacific coast. The area of I'M
occupied land is rapidly narrowing.
Enormous distance from the markets
renders the farmer to~odependent on lines
of transportation, and too exclusive at
tention to the raising of wheat, corn and
cotton, places him at the mercy of for
eign markets and governments. The
changes of tariff by Germany and France
within the past year, warn the American
farmer that he can no longer afford 10
neglect those improvements and develop
ments of his industry which are neces-
sary to render it permanently prosperous
and independent.
ut is time to remember that the more
thorough and skilful culture is often the
cheaper; that it costs less per bushel to
raise twenty-five bushels of wheat to the
acre than to raise twelve bushels. 1t IL
time to remember, too, that the farmer
who has to employ hands all the year, In
order to have their services during the
summer months only, wastes part OF hi!
productive force IL he fails to diversity
his industry that his labor may be as fal
as possible employed in the winter also
1t is a poor profit that he can get on hi
corn when the crop is large and the pric,
is as low as 1t is this year. But If he cal
add the profits of a manufacturer to hi
profits as a producer, and turn his corr
and other products into hogs and cattl
through the winter months, he will flint
both his fields and his pocket enriched
Every winter consumers pay high price
for meats, butter, cheese and eggs, be
cause there are too few farmers VIII
wisely keep the machinery Of production
running the year round. Yet, even l
the older States, where soil is scanty an
worn, some men of shrewdness and silenc
by diversified and well distributed In
dustry adapted to the wants of the CON
munity. secure profits which the gres
wheat farmers Of the West cannot, in til
long run, surpass. Not long ago, In
scientific association, a paper was rea
maintaining that, eve upon New Eng
lands stony soil, by raising corn fodde
and buying ~cottonseed, beef could be pre-
duced cheaper than in Texas, and !
such quantity as to supply all Easter
markets. q
'The agriculture of this country hs
spread over too many acres already
What it needs is to bring a higher int
ligence to its aid, and to make each acl
produce far more than before. We hay
not yet begun to realize the producti'
capacity Of this country, nor shall we III
til the farmer makes a manufacturer
himself part of the year, learns to NAL
all his months produce wealth for hir
and adapts his industry more to the pc
manent and increasing needs of the hon
market, so that he may be less depende
on the changes of industry or of legisl
ton abroad"