The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1894-06-29
Forecast in Farming.

Keen, practical forecast Is an i'm.
portant factor in every walk of busi-
ness life, but for the farmer it is nj.
most Indispensable to any reasonable
amount of success. Mechanical skill.
once 1t has been fairly mastered.
needs next 10 no thought to keep It up
TO the point of working efficiency. But
farming, as 1t ought to be. not only
requires careful thought, but very
great amount of forethought to make
il either pleasant or profitable. The
thing that helps most tO elevate farm
work above the level of the mercst
!rudEery Is the amount of hearty and
exhilarating mental effort that can be
Infused into It; that, combined with
the sense of duty and the feeling ot
hope. will, under Providence, make
lie on the farm more really attractive
Than pursuits apparently much more
pleasant and alluring OF all forms
Of thought, forethought is the most in
spring. Just as afterthought is gem
orally least pleasant. or the various
natiVnalities engaged in farming ON
this continent, l find the Germans and
Scotch In proportion to their num-
bers, most successful. and to that sue
cess their faculty of ploddlng, COM
bined with calculating habits, have. I
think. contributed the most AS a
German friend of mine said lately,
"A man must learn Something's effery
day, If he wants to make money by
farming" The skilled farmer pro
pounds in the quiet of his spare hours
the problems of the coming year with
which he may need to grapple. and
then sits himself to think out in per-
haps two or three different lines, the
tactics by which those problems are to
be solved. and those difficulties met
Wise behind the hand" ready for
business the day after the fair. the
man with dull, soapy sort of brain
, goes ahead In a mechanical sort of
way, seeing nothing In particular until
ne strikes snag or runs his head
against a wall, and then feels around
In dazed sort of way to find out
what has struck him. Proper fore
east in farming goes n long way be
yond the mere study of possible modes
Of action. Every possible form of OBJ
struction is looked at, and plans made
fur getting round the corner. or i'll
that is impossible, for making the un-
pleasant effects of the collision as
slight as possible. No great amount
weather and good daylight. but when.
IN the misty darkness all around, you
cannot tell whether the mass in your
way is an island or an iceberg, the
trained captain Is ready for the emer-
gency, while the fair-weather sailor
acts like an imbecile "Ready, aye
nady,' is the motto Of the Napiers, a
family famous in science, in war, in
literature, and should be the watch
word of every man who would farm
successfully. BE sure you are right,
ana then 20 ahead" is another equal
invaluable maxim. and accredited TO
pavy Crockett but 1t is only by i
Vide and far-reaching forethought
mat this certainly can be attained.
me results may be much more valu
aoie and enduring than the thinker
himself has ever anticipated. When,
more than fifty years ago Amos
Vruckshanks began with his one Dur
IAN heifer to Try and build his ideal
shorthorn. he only meant TO do the
sst he could with the materials with
N Ms reach. But ne lived to see tho
uiumphs of his plans, and the profit
ahn honor which followed. All the
World now believes in the Scotch
SlorthornS, of which he has been, as
az as man can be, the successful
yyeator' Learn TO labor and to wait"
GOOD sense and good poetry, but the
asgest half of the profit OF farming
aOor and much of it's real pleasure
Hust come out of the vigorous eXer-
& % on the workers brain, Of which |
nnred forecast is pretty much the
DNsterpiece. 1t rs one thing to wait
W. the chance that may turn up, quite
".other her and a much nobler thing to
at IN SURF hope for the fruit OF the
so NS mat Years and years ago you
hec'eu and planted in the confidence
" a" not your hand, some other
% would be sure to pluck goOdly
Richard Waugh In American
Agicuhurist.