The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1889-01-22
AGRICULTURE.
FRANKLIN ALLIANCE, No. 692,
Onslow Co, Dec. Is, '88.

Alliance, and as | cannot hear from
any of the Onslow brethren, I take
the privilege of writing a few lines to
your valuable paper, hoping you will
allow me space for publication, and
also do me the favor to publish as
soon as possible. I've selected agri-
culture for my subject, for [ think it
should be first and last of all subjects.
l shall speak very concisely of the i'm
portance of the subject, hoping it will
prove interesting to the few who may
read 1t. Agriculture was not only
the primeval occupation Of man, and
the pursuit which all men in all ages
have followed, but it has been, is, and
ever must be the handspring of all in
dustry. All classes and conditions
are dependent upon it fCt their daily
sustenance. Nothing can supply the
place of the products of the soil. Agri-
culture not only gives life to man and
beast, but it is the foundation of all
other business. All trades, all manu-
features, all commerce; in short. all
business is the result, directly or indi-
rectly, of agriculture. When the labors
of the husbandman are rewarded with
bountiful harvests, the spindles multi
ply, the ships are heavily freighted
and money plentiful. The nation that
relies, upon agriculture as it's main
product is independent and prosperous.
The adaptation of agriculture to all
ranks and conditions of society is
wonderful. The king himself, with.
out any loss of dignity, can be a
farmer. Most of the Presidents of the
United States have retired from their
high positions to the cultivation of
broad acres, and were just as digni-
fed and the public as proud of them
as when in the presidential chair.
Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Jack
son, Van Buren,, Clay and Webster
pride themselves as much upon their
skill in farming as in their guidance
of the affairs of State. Many a pro-
fessional man and merchant, with his
head aching with the p~erplexities Of
his business, 'sighs for the quiet, simple
pleasure of farm life. By living in
the open air and exercising his muscles
most vigorously, and his brain more
gently, he feels that the nerve exhaus-
ton and consumption of vital force
that have rendered life a burden will
disappear, and sweet will be the sleep
of labor. 1t is a fact, patent to all,
that the really prosperous class, as a
whole, is the agricultural. The farmer
is demonstrably better off, more indie
pendent, fares better, lodges better,
and gets a better return for his labor
than the worker in the city. We
often witness the anomaly of thrifty
farmers and starving tradesmen. The
country must be fed and the farmer
feeds it. There is nothing that can
prevent the steady prosperity of the
American farmer, but the combina-
tions and Orner of the middlemen
that force unnatural conditions upon
the finances and markets of the coun-
try; the gains of the farmer are slow
but sure; speculation is not legitimate
farm business. Farm stock cannot
be watered like railroad stock and
made to expand at pleasure. Those
who go into farming expecting to
make sudden fortunes will be disap-
pointed. 1t is a highway to health
and competence, but not to sudden
wealth and luxury. Agriculture is
an art and a science, the Individual
the artist; the science consisting in
the combined experience of the most
successful men Of the present and past
ages. To avail ones self of the bene-
fit Of science, the farmer should be a
regular subscriber aud constant reader
of agricultural and horticultural
periodicals, and a purchaser Of the
best books bearing upon his business.
His library should contain agricultu-
raj, scientific and literary works; the
result will be a model farm, with
ample buildings, and all the best
scientific help in agriculture manufac-
tured; his stock the best kept, and of
the finest breed, and the envy of all.
1t has been a matter of common
observation to those who study the
tendencies and movements of Ameri-
can society that there is, on the part
of the youth in the country, quite gen
orally, an eager, restless desire to get
away from farm life and go to a
CITY. To that class of young men,
Shakespeare wrote more than two
hundred years ago, that it was "better
to endure the ills we already have
than to fly to others we know not of"
and this remark holds good in its ap-