The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1886-05-27

and West can hardly supply us with corn
and bacon, horses and mules. Then
there is no end, during those "fush"
times, to the purchasing of new goods;
new wagons, top-buggies, machinery, ETC.,
are sent for from the North and we
entirely exhaust the stock of fertilizers,
so that all the factories in the country
cannot supply the demand.
Now, if our farmers were better educa-
ted, we would be more practical and far
seeing, would provide for these unhappy
extremes, and could strike safe, reliable
and remunerative medium.
The farmer must have the intelligence
or good sense and energy to constantly
watch his lands and crops, that he may
know when to prepare and plant, how
and when to SOW and reap, how to cult
vate his crops, and how to have an intel
ligent care over his stock, provisions,
tools, etc. All of this requires deep
study, Independent thought and constant
activity on our part. have never seen
real intelligent, reading and thinking
farmer, who has devoted all his time and
talent with proper degree of energy)
to his business, ever fail in farming
provided he sticks to it. But, generally,
as soon as he makes some money at
farming, and gets little ahead, he must
get rich then; he puts up store aud
becomes merchant; or buys steam
engine, puts up mill and becomes
machinist; or the Legislature appoints
or the people elect him Justice of the
Peace, so that he devotes all his time
and talents to law. So then he becomes
a public leader and belongs to the neigh
borhood; then it requires better clothes,
more style in his manner Of living, and
more extravaganza, so that the beautiful
fields and rich haryests that once knew
him knows him now no more forever,
and he soon spends all that he has accu'
mulated on the farm. For the above
reasons, and for many others, such as the
variety of soils, changes of seasons,
manipulation of fertilizers and the pecu.
liarities of his own business, he must
think and act Independently. The farm
er is not like the doctor, who goes when
sent for, names the disease from the
diagnosis of his patient, and supplies the
remedy recommended by his standard
medical works; nor like the lawyer, who
sits at his Office and awaits the visits of
his clients, and makes his speech from
the statement of his client and the testi-
mony of his witnesses according to law;
nor like the merchant or mechanic, who
awaits the coming of his customers, and
sells them such goods as they desire, or
does the work according to the demands
or wishes of his customers. The farmer
has no one to come to him and tell him
when to plant and when to gather, or:
when and how to cultivate, or what his
land needs and how to apply it, or how
to rotate his crops, and other minuti@,
for the most profit to his purse and his
land. All these things he must know
himself by constant thought and action.
The want of this knowledge and high.
er education among the farmers of this
generation might be supplied, to great
extent, by reading and studying our agri-
cultural journals, and following the ad.
vice of their able and educated cores
pondents. In this age of progress and
enlightenment, let us do away with the
old and ignorant idea that "book farming
won't do" In the name of reason and
good sense, give us more book knowledge
and higher degree of education in our
noble vocation, 80 that thereby We may
make it more honorable and lucrative.
Then, and not till then, will our young
men delight in the pleasure of rural life
and the rich blessings of agricultural
pursuits.
Let the other professions have their
share of the young men, for these time
honored pursuits must be constantly re.
cruited; let us have our colleges for the
education of the youth of our land who
desire to enter these professions; let US
have our State universities, in connection
with other colleges, sustained by the
different States. This we will heartily
endorse, for God knows we would not
have it otherwise. But let us also have
more educated young men on the farm.
Let us have more agricultural and me.
chanical colleges, either separate or in
connection with our universities, so that
the plow, the mower, the reaper, the cul-
tivator, etc., may be guided by skillful
hands and directed by cultivated brains.
Then our country will soon reach de-
gree of prosperity never before attained,
and the waste and uncultivated stretches
in our beloved "Sunny South" shall
"blossom like the rose." w. E. A.
PineviAe, N. c.