The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1892-04-28

tuo OoHoIo. grape OF nlgh charact-
or and sure to be popular wherever it
can be successfully grown.n
THE FARMER NEEDS A LEVEL START.
Why, asks the New York Times,
q not the farmer have as fair q
is life as any other man?
His occupation is the most import
ant of any. AS he works to the best
advantage the world gains, and man
kind live the easier and pleasanter.
He feeds and clothes the world and
his industry sets all others in profit
able motion. 1t is from him primarily
that railroads are made and ships
pillow the ocean. The farmers crops
are the talk of the financiers and the
banks arrange their funds for the
purchase of them. Every other in
dustry waits ON that of the farmer.
And surely it must be for the general
advantage that the farmers should
be the most intelligent of men
when all this responsibility falls on
them. And much more, as the farm
ers with worthy abition, desire to ex-
ercise their full weight and influence
in the government of this great ma
ton, how can they properly fulfill the
highest privilege and duty of the citi-
zen without adequate mental training
and wide knowledge of history and
of human affairs?
All this being SO, how can the edu-
cation of the farmers boys be safely
neglected? AS rule the commonest
city schools are in advance of the best
of the rural schools. AS blind man
cannot understand what light and
color is, so an uneducated man can
not realize the necessity for
education, and this inability
is the great obstacle in the improve
ment of country schools. There are
rural school directors who think a
good plowboy worth more wages than
a good teacher.
PLOW POINTS.
We know of gentleman who has
seventy cows and four hundred hens.
He cares for them both IN the very
best way, and his hens pay him the
greatest profit. He does not crowd
them, he feeds them properly and he
has stream of eggs going to the
market all winter when the demand
is great and the prices high.
Nv
At the Indiana experiment station
"a kinds of potatoes were raised.
Gov. Rusk heads the list with a
yield at the rate of 415 bushels per
acre, and Alexander next with 80
bushels. A complete fertilizer gave
the best yield. The omission of potash
decreased the yield The addition of
nitrogen made no material difference.
Half tubers produced larger yield
than whole tubers. Seed ends gave a
much larger proportion of large tubers.
Subsoiling gave but slight increase
of crop; mulching was injurious.
Nv
Is there any good reason why this
country cannot afford to have the
same mailing privileges, especially in
regard to postage on merchandise
which are enjoyed by Canadians? II
Canada is satisfied with a cents pei
pound postage for merchandise
why not the United States
Is there any good reason why we
have to pay exorbitant express rates
merely to make few men or corpora
lions immensely rich? Why not 8
parcel post as enjoyed by other ma
lions? Why cannot Uncle Sam carry
our packages as we'll as our letters
and papers, etc., at first cost?
Nv
, Intelligent farming, like intelligent
, directing of any other industry, will
alone insure success. The farmer
hereafter, in any locality or in any
branch of diversified farming must
have thorough knowledge of it OF
, he will fail. He cannot longer follow
f in the old beaten path, nor pursue the
idiotic, haphazard methods Of his
grandfathers. The times have changed
, and we have changed with
them-that is, some of us have
and the others must or the sheriff will
J cell them out.
wv
No manufacturer could endure with.
out a financial crash the proportional
drain upon his resources that we see
on many farms in the seeming thought.
less waste of fertilizers. The wonder
is not that such fail to make farming
pay,n but that they are able to keep
body and soul together. This of itself
is one excellent recommendation fol
UuO nuolIOSb vi "hCh SOlA
Quoted on business principles.
Nv
On an average, says an exchange, a
one-horse farmer loses enough in one
month from working with dull tools
to pay his taxes for the year. He
chops with large dull axe because it
is SO far to neighb r's grindstone;
his saw is dull and needs the teeth set
but he has no saw file or saw set, and
perhaps would not know how to use
them ifhe had. One-third more work
can be done with sharp than dull
hoe, and it is the same with any other
tool or implement that carries an
edge. 1t is enough to cause tears in
the eyes of pole-ax when it is push
ed by the average dull farmer. Every
man who uses tools should keep him.
self well supplied with every appli-
ance necessary to keep such tools in
good working order. The rule is the
duller the tools the duller the farmer.
To the Ladies.
| There are thousands of ladies'