St. Landry democrat., 1886-02-20
IMPROBABLE FARMING.
Farm Methods Which do not Pay Under
Any Circumstances.

Farm Methods Which do not Pay Under
Any Circumstances.
That farm does not pay where there
is no system about work, where mat
ters are always in more or less contu-
sion and things are behindhand the sea-
son round. No business can prosper
that is based on shifting, haphazard
methods. Every month of the yeaa has
its proper work; and every effort should
be made to have the work on the farm
done within its proper limits. 1t is not
difficult TO do work well if it is done
systematically But it is not only very
hard, but very annoying and discour-
aging to work without definite plans and
aims.
Farming does not pay where the TIA
ern, the corner grocery, or the posi-
office has a larger share of the time and
attention of the farmer than his mead
ows and grain fields. No crops worth
having are planted or harvested in the
rendezvous of the village idler and Cos
sip-monger. 1t does not pay to talk
politics or discuss the latest arrival in
town when the corn and potatoes need
hoeing, the fences repairing, the fallow
clearing and preparing, and hundred.
other things are wanting to be done
No man can succeed on a farm or any
where else who takes greater delight in
telling what he can do than in actual
doing. The farmers business is on his
farm and not on the shady side of a
tavern porch or hanging over a road
fence interviewing passers by. Neither
is it his business to race up and down
the country attending caucuses, or 60
ing to vendues to buy up worthless
trash because it is cheap. Such bust
ness does not pay even where the far
mer's place is filled with hired help. A
careless, shiftless, idle farmer can sell
dom get a hired man to stay with
him who is any better than himself. a
live, energetic and really valuable man
will not work long for such an employer,
while the lazy and worthless are only
too glad to remain with such an easy
master. That farm does not pay where
there is too much dependence on hired
help, no matter how efficient such help
may be,
That farm is not profitable where an
intelligent and progressive spirit is not
manifested in it's management While
it is neither necessary nor advisable to
adopt all the latest methods in farming,
or any of the agricultural vagaries of
the day, it will not do to be ''behind
the times No industry has made
greater progress in the past few years
in the way of improved methods than
farming. Every year witnesses some
marked Improvement in agricultural
tools and machinery, in breeds of cattle
and other stock, in ways of raising and
harvesting crops, in new varieties of
grain and vegetables, and in many
other things that are of prime impor-
lance in agriculture. 1t pays to adopt
a conservative course in these matters,
keep ABREAST of the times so far as that
means to take advantage of all those
Improvements that use and experiment
have shown to be of real value.
That farm does not pay any better in the
end where there is too much work than
where there is too little. On the
whole, no doubt the idler and the spend
thrift get more enjoyment out of life
than the miser and the slave. Nothingis
lost but much gained in the long run by so
commingling work and recreation as to
make both conduce to health and hap
piness. 1t does not pay to be niggardly
and grasping, to labor only for things
that perish with the using, and neglect
those matters that concern the welfare
of the higher and nobler part. 1t does
not pay to neglect the family and the
home in the eager desire to heap up
riches Y Observer