The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-06-27

THE FUTURE OF FARMING.

Agriculture in This Cor ~ Has Promis-
ing "r'...-,
1t has been q rent remark that
the farmer was the backbone of the
American republic. However true this
may be, it is beyond question that the
farm is the place from which large
comes. No one c. 4 stand for an hour
early in the day at the exit of the great
ferries that lead into New York city
without being impressed with the mag
nitude of the enterprise that pours into
condensed New York such an enormous
amount of food - the great metropolis
daily consumes Activity begins soon
after midnight. and from that time on
until some hours after noon the tide of
ebbing and flowing humanity, trucks
and teams, is at its height.
And this rush and hurry, this hand
ling an amount of produce truly enor-
nous, is but the final act of a long
series of processes and operations.
Months before the seed was provided
and the ground made ready. At suita-
BILE times, cultivation, irriga ton, har
vesting and preparing for market went
on in the most regular sequence, re-
'sulting in the great aggregation of eat
ables and drinla bles that constantly
pour in upon this large city
1t is quite worth while, in view of all
existing facts, TO give a little intelli-
gent attention TO the people who fur
.nish all this material, what are their
lives, their hopes aspirations and aims,
and how nearly do they reap the eX-
pected reward of their toll.
The farmer of America unquestion-
ably has great future. Half CEN
fury hence his condition will be inn
measurably improved in every respect,
and it is not too much to believe that
the tiller of the soil and his family
will, at no distant day, fill a much
more important position in the eyes of
society and the world at large than
they now occupy. Marked changes
are predicted in the general arrange
ment and management of the farm of
the future. That the area of cultivated
land under the charge of any individ-
nal will be very much less than at pres
ent seems inevita BILE.
Careful experiments have demon
strated that improved methods of cult
ure and judiciously adapted fertilizers
will increase the productiveness per
acre from two TO four-fold on an aver
age. That it will run in many cases
far beyond this is a point on which
many eXperimenters are perfectly well
satisfied.
~ ,oIt ton
acres as he now raises on forty or fifty,
it certainly would be the sheerest folly
for him TO continue the effort to spread
his labors over the larger number. 1t
seems TO be more difficult with every
passing year to get competent help, and
this is another reason for the dimin-
ished size of farms adjacent to metro
politan centers. The worlds fair
will be a great enlightener in this
as well as in other respects. The ag-
ricultural department is to be specially
exhaustive, and every farmer and
farmers son should make this the
Mecca of his summer pilgrimage if he
can in any way make il possible to get
there A week in the agricultural de-
partment will be a liberal educa ton
and, if the farmer himself finds it diff
cult to go. he should at least send his
boys and girls and give them the bene-
at of the worlds most advanced ideas.
Some day, and that soon, the farming
communities all over the country will
be centers not only of agricultural pro-
duction, but of brains and ability in
other directions as well.
When this day comes it will not be
necessary to make an effort to keep the
iboys and girls on the farm. Having
once brought intelligence and culture
TO their notice, they will not exchange
the pleasures of suburban living for all
of the glitter and turmoil of the bust
est, noisiest cities in the world. N. y.
Ledger