The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-10-03
THE NOBILITY OF FARMING.

THE NUBlLlTY UF FAkMlMG.
AGRICULTURE THE SOURCE AND FoUN-
TAIN HEAD OF ALL POWER
AND PROSPERITY.
Essay Read Before the walnut Grove
I Agricultural Club, by Ed. A. Mer.
rimaI, August; 1858.
Upon investigation we find we begin
ners are not alone in our want of knowl-
edge upon practical farming. Men nigh
in office, Commissioners, Heads of Beau
reaus of Agriculture have not always
heretofore distinguished themselves as
cultivated and accurate teachers and dis
seminators Of agricultural information.
If erroneous ideas are then to be found
among those who are in position to learn
correct agricultural facts and principles,
and to whom we look for instruction,
how can we be surprised to find that the
daily toiling farmer who has no time for
study or investigation, are regulating
daily their affairs by the phazes of the
moon. And some even carry the MOON
doctrine into their spiritual lives, for it is
said that an old farmer once attended a
the DARK of the moon, and soon found
that he was back slider, but being a
persevering man tried it again in the
LIGHT of the moon, and then swore that
his religion had stuck closer than q
brother ever since.
confess, know but little of agricul-
ture yet, either as an art or science, for
properly understood, it is not only the
ostimportant of arts, but it is the most
comprehensive Of all physical science.
It was the first employment assigned to
man. God himself setting the example
and honoring the vocation by, planting a
garden in Eden, and requiring man to
dress and keep it. The earliest record af-
ter the faU assures us that Cain was till
er of the soil, and Abel keeper of sheep,
and from that time up to the present it
has been from choice or NECESSITY, the
pursuit of more than three-fourihs of all
the able bodied inhabitants of the globe.
The high and the low-the civilized and
the savage-the learned and the ignorant
the bond and the free meet together in
this primitive pursuit.
Unlike any other business, it carries
with it no idea of the character of the
person engaged in it. A prince or poet
may trim the joyful hedge-a Cleveland
or Thurman may swing the axe as lus-
tily and sweat and twist and squirm, or
bind the sheaf as nimbly as he whose
thoughts 60 not, and never will, beyond
the horizon that stretches before his cabin
door or above his plow handles. But
while it is business in which all may en-
gage, experience and knowledge, judg-
ment and prudence are essential to sue
cessful and prosperous prosecution OF it.
It calls forth the most varied qualities of
mind and bodv-patience and care-dili-
gence and zeal-economy and an indus
try that will not fag. Tact to manage
and skill to direct-fertility Of resources
mprehensiveuess of plan with a
knowledge Of detail-a looking forward
through years, yet attentive to the bust
ness Of to-day. Every latent faculty OF
intellect-every dormant power Of the
muscle-every true and noble feeling Of
the heart is called into reqrisition by the
farmer. He must know aOhe't to plant,
and how to plant, and aUhere to plant, not
one crop only, but scores,-how best to
cultivate each, and how to garner-he
must know when to sell and when to
keep. But I grow weary Of this breath
What is there NOT required of the far
mer? Let him study law, mathematics,
medicine, ethics, geology, astronomy,
political economy and he finds use for
them all and the man who will put on
his thinking cap and get close down to
this subject surely finds it broad and
deep one, and we grow astounded at it's
requirements. We have not all gone up
to the last round Of the ladder. There is
ample room for those who would extend
their vision, and enlarge the boundary of
their informs ton. An additional stock
Of ideas, especially upon the economies
of conducting farm, even if new and
approved to the antiquated ways Of our
fOreiathers would surely work no detri-
menti
The golden age of agriculture Is ahead {!
The flaming torch of science illunines
the way! And yet alas! how little do we
really know? How many of us are ut
terlr ignorant Of even the primary ele-
ments Of agriculture? How many Of us
if put upon our catechism could clearly
define hOV crops grow-the effect OF eli
mate upon cultivation, or what cnmbina-
ton of materials make the cheapest fertil-
izers? or why land in which clay pre-
dominates is not every where of the same
color? These, and hundreds OF such
questions would be difficult to answer
without investigation, and yet they in
volve principles of farm economy which
every farmer should know. Let US face
Tile JluLH. we llOt llhC ~ OltCh NHSi
it is against us, however much we may
approve Of it when it is against some one
else. Some of us do not like the truth
when it strikes at our pride or conceit, or
some others of the many bad principles
with which human nature is twisted.
Some of us do not like the truth when
some of our short comings stare and glare
at us, and vet we gain noble victory
over ourselves when we make up our
minds to look the TRUTH square in the
face-to see ourselves as others see us-to
look at our errors and ignorances in the
light of TRUTH. ARE we appreciative
and progressive enough? The old sys-
tenn is gradually being relegated to the
shadowy past. But are we as commu-
nifty endeavoring yearly to collect facts
and make our deductions and solutions |?
to learn thoroughly the disposition of our
soils and their adaptation to the different
crops? What fertilizers are best, and the
best modes of culture? Do we read con-
stantly agricultural works, and are we
guided in our labors by light that science
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