Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1888-07-19
FARMING THAT PAYS.
Hog -and- Hominy Clodhoppers Versus En-
terprisinS Agriculturlsts.

Hog-and- HOminy ClOdhoppers Versus En-
terprisinG Agriculturlsts.
AS has been proven times without
number, any kind of farming will pay
in the hands of some men. Brains, if
the brains be organized exactly right,
that each season operations will show
that the movements are in the hands
OF a master, will make any kind of
farming pay. Then. again, il man
makes up his mind to keep his family
on hog and hominy, paying nothing
out to the grocer except what the wife
pays in the form of eggs from hens
that are never fed, but CLEAN their liv-
ing in the fields and in scratching for
grubs, and expends the merest pittance
for any thing that can rank as luxu-
ries; such aman, if he grows any thing
to sell for cash, ought certainly, after
paying his taxes and hired help. be
able to place something in the savings
bank. Scrub stock will pay in
the hands of such man.
Why should it notp 1t is the
expenses on a modern farm, re-
curing such disposition of grains and
grasses as will. without shadow of
doubt. pay profit; that modern
buildings may be erected and main
tanned; that the family may be clothed
and fed as thrifty farmers in general
clothe and feed their family; that
some thing more than lumber wagon
and pair of hard-worked horses or
mules be at hand to take the family
to church or to town, as occasion may
require.
1t has been said Of some men that
they would make money if cast away
on q naked rock. Such tendency to
thrift, or on the other hand, the per-
sistent determination limited at above
to pay out nothing for comforts and
improvements, and the most meager
possible sums for the bare necessaries
of life. will enable man to show to
his neighbor farmers that he can sup
port his family and pay his taxes,
though feeding no stock upon his
p remises other than the mcrest scrubs.
Many man managing in this man.
ner has been able to hold his land,
(such man seldom adds 10 his pos
sessions by buying the land that joins
him). until enterprsing men come in
about him, raising the value of his
acres. and with scarce any merit on
his part. he nevertheless gets ahead in
the world. A man practicng such a
system can not be said to have earned
much, but merely TO have stayed by
his land, bought at an early day at q
nominal price, till through advancing
enterprise and the onward drift of
circumstances, he may appear to have
made something, not by improving
his farm stock. not in fact by improv-
ing any thing; not by ditching or by
undertaking; for during the years
his children that have grown to man
hood and womanhood, are witnesses
to the fact that during all the years of
their growth, the teams have plowed
around all the wet places on the farm.
So farming in the hands of such q man
pays in the manner limited at, but on
like plan a railroad would pay
though ironed with the old fashioned
flat rail and the cars drawn by a pair
of horses, but the public has no
use for railroad service of this
sort. There is no law against
hauling cars with horses. neither
against farming upon plan that ut
terly ignores all Improvement, both as
to tillage and live stock. Those cir
cumstances that force thrift upon
mans purse though he may have no
thrift in his practices, come to the
man without brains as well rs to him
with abundant wisdom.
But what would be the outcome to
the modern farmer, taking an adj
vanced position as he now does in
matters of education and all affairs of
public interest .eshould he, year after
year, pillow around the wet places on
his farm, make no move toward seed
ing down a liberal portion of his land
to grass, and placing thereon cattle
that are wanted in the leading mark
cts at six cents pound, instead of
such as go slow at three cents. If
gain is made from year to year upon
the farm til generally conceded that
wheat growing does not contribute to
this gain, but that we must look to
self-tending livestock, to pastures that
furnish the grass ready for the grazing
beast, and to beasts that grow apace
and mature early. for modern practice
is bringing out the fact that rapid
growth, early maturity and prompt
fattening. alone pay any profit worth
the name. Farm Field and Stockman