Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1888-09-07
DOMESTIC ECONOMY
& Budget Of Useful Information Upon
Household and Agricultural
Topics.
Matters of Interest Relating to Farm,
Orchard, Stable, Parlor, and
Kitchen.
THE FARM.
Improved Farming,

| The filling of soil and growing oil
crops-that is what one us,rSlty charac-
terizes as farming; but that term can
scarcely be applied with Justice to much
of the work done on our farms to- day.
Farming should mean the perfect hand
ling of a given portion of land, SO that
it shall produce maximum amount of
products. cereals, roots, vegetables,
fruits, and grasses. and their secondary
products. horses, cattle sheep, swine,
poultry. eggs. butter, cheese. and milk.
Regarding it in this light. then, can We
say that farming, so-called. deserves the
name? Is not a great majority, of it a
mere attempt at farming-a work begun
p.acticcd but not thoroughly under
stood; pursuit capable of the profitable
introduction of more brain work into
the mechanism OF it's machinery. and IN
short demanding the better education OF
those employed Ill 1t? Years ago. when
the great Western plains of America lay
in undlsturbed repose, the prairle
grasses annually growing up and falling
down, thus gradually but surely enrich
ing the SOL whence they came, the plo-
neer- farmer OF MS DAY came saw
ana settled thereupon. Possessed OF
limited means and but crude lmple-
ments Tor cullNatlng the SOIL Win no
fallfoad 1acllltles ana rev marketing
points. ms requirements were OF neces-
sitS those merely OF himself ana family.
linus no great efforts We're needed by
him to secure sufficient returns from the
soil for the maintenance OF himself and
children. He merely. "tlckled the soil,
SO to speak, scattered seed and the fer
tile earth rewarded Kim an hundred fold:
lhls man was farmer sutlclently Well
versed for his day ana opportunities,
%hen manual labor alone was almost
FL that the pursuit required. Since
then what a change mas come to these
Western farms and to the descendants
OF those pioneer farmers. The present
generation inherits, not virgin soil to
cultivate, but farms that have been hard
run and badly worked; legacy OF pow
erty TINS to the man who has not learned
more about farming than his forefathers
him. With these stern necessities of the
farmers position OF to-day, surrounded
by thousands of men competing with
him in the markets of the country,
mlddiemen, high freight rates and con-
sequent low prices for products, with
land no longer rich III natures store of
crop food for the manufacture of farm
products, farming has become a most
difficult profession. Men, who. finding
themselves in these circumstances, sur
rounded by difficulties and possessed of
unprolitic soil, content themselves with
farming as their fathers did must fail,
OF at best make but hard-earned living
for themselves and families in the sweat
OF their brows. Those who would make
success of farming are of an altogether
different class. They are men whose
head work precedes their manual labor
in every department. of the farm: whose
manual labor is the carrying of science
into practice, and whose practice is per-
feet in detail and correct in principle.
Their farms are farmed in the proper
sense of the word. Crops are taken
from the land, and in their place some
CO. =,