The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1890-01-17
THE PRACTICAL TARMER-WHAT
Is HES


Is HEg
Senator Harrison s amendment TO the
bill providing that hereafter the Com
missioner Of Agriculture shall be elected
by tho General Assembly was very
fully discussed in the Senate on Wednes-
day upon Mr.. Berry's motion to recon-
cider il, Mr.. Harrison's amendment be-
ing 10 the effect that the Commissioner
appointed shall always be selected from
the ranks Of practical farmers.
This raises the very important ques
ton. and also one very difficult to
answer, what is practical farmerf Is
he merely man who is engaged ex-
cIusively in cultiyating the soil, hav-
ing no other occupation or osten-
sibIe means Of support, or is that
character to be judged by success mag
ricultural operations, whether associ-
ated with success in other pursuits in
life or not 4? II enthusiasm constitutes
a practical farmer, then the most prac-
teal farmers to be found are lazy 80
in active practice, who purchase small
farms and amuse their idle moments
and throw away their spare money, i'll
irving to make two blades Of grass
grow where only one grew before.
MANY of these farms are models IN the
tborouehness with which they are cul-
tivnted. and give forth with bounti-
fulnes in consequence which the most
practical farmer might envy.
There can be little doubt that there
are many lawyers in Virginia today
who are as practical farmers as the men
who give up their whole time and all
their energies to agriculture. And
why? Because many Of the practition-
ers before our county courts cannot
rely on their law practice for liveli-
hood. Many Of thess practitioners also
are really farmers, the law being en-
tirelv subordinate with them to agri-
culture, the former being as much Of
a side issue with them as ii 81 latter Is to
those who follow law really as pro-
fession. Many Of the most capable ply
sicians in the country districts are
equally as capable as farmers, and the
same is unquestionably the case with a
large number Of our lawyers.
The principle underlying Senator
Harrison's amendment, although not
sol clearly expressed in the phrase,
practical farmer, IS might be wished,
il nevertheless correct, namely, that
the Commissioner of Argicultureshould
be chosen from the ranks of men who are
engaged in the one employment of agri-
culture, however many competent men
for the position might be found among
those who combine a profession and
farming as a means Of supporting life
This is due to our farmers, if for no
other reason, to allay any feeling OF dis
content that is certain TO be excited if
different course Of action is followed
At the same time, the highest degree Of
care should be taken that there shall
not be elected a theoretical farmer,
who has been posing before the public
as practical farmer.
A lawyer who only knows the differ
ence between a beet and turn i2 when
they are cooked and set before him. in
a dish on the table, is to be preferred to
the farmer who makes use of his land
simply to illustrate his own ingenious
and eccentric ideas as to how nature
shall be manipulated, twisted and at
the same time defed. There is hardly
a county in the State that does not
cherish among its most valuable posses
sions one Of these tickle and expert
mental farmers, who in a contest for
the position of the commissionership Of
agriculture, would undoubtedly enjoy
a far better chance for election than all
the other farmers OF his county, how
ever judicious and practical, simply be-
cause, as a general rule, it is the theo-
retic and experimental farmer who is
most widely known, on account OF ms
irresistible inclination to rush into
print on every possible occasion.
There is no occupation pursued by
men at the present time that demands
more good sense or more careful train
ing to ensure success than agriculture.
1t follows very logically, therefore,
that the official representative Of this
interest in the State at large should be
a man distinguished in an eminent de-
gree for these special characteristics.