The Globe-republican., 1895-03-01
Farmers Must Be Students.

Farmers Must Be Students.
1t is evident that this country has
reached an epoch in which the farmer
must use his brain as well as hands in
order to make his labor pay q profitable
return. He mEst become student. not
only of the present but IF the future
The era in which the plodder's toll pays
a reward is vanishing forever. A
student of the agricultural situation says
in the Philadelphia Record:
As the wants of the people increase
there is not only greater consumption.
but more variety is sought. If the world
has changed and electricity is beginning
to supplant horses and men. the farm is
not exempt from the influence of pro-
gress. The articles used as food and the
dishes prepared are very different from
those Of century ago. Many fruits and
vegetables now in general use were an
known at the beginning of the present
century. If the farmer is to keep pace
with those engaged in other industries
he must change his methods and his
crops to correspond with conditions not
of his own choosing, and meet the con-
sumers of his products with commodities
of kind best adapted to their wants and
not such as he may prefer to grow for
himself. Every year witnesses some
thing new in the field of agriculture and
no farmer should be content to follow a
beaten path, but should branch out and
endeayOr to take advantage of every
opportunity for producing something On
the farm that will afford him larger
profit than he secured the previous year
The fact is conceded that the low
prices for grain are caused by the cheap
ness of the cost by the use of improved
labOrsaving machinery and implements
on the farm, and the day when crop
must be cultivated because it requires
less labor than some other has passed.
The crops that pay best now are those
that are the most costly to produce, be-
cause they are grown less abundantly
than the cheaper kinds. Corn, wheat
and oats are grown at OnefOurth the
cost of former times. and the old prices
will never return unless the misfortune
of famine should occur, which is
hardly possible in a country with such
diversity Of climate as ours. There are
crops grown in this country which APP
parently are very large, but which do
not supply our home markets, and
among them are potatoes and onions,
and this is due to the fact that they re-
quire more labor than corn or wheat
Beans, peas, apples, cherries, ounces
and some of the garden crops are often
below the amount required for the sup
ply of the home markets.
1t is not supposed that the farmers
will suddenly revolutionize their meth
DDS, but it will be an advantage for them
to study the markets and statistics and
endeavOr to learn what may be required.
Labor should always be considered in
growing special crop, for it enters in
to the prices and the remuneration for
such expenses is never overlooked. 1T
is labor that makes the value, and while
it is wellto cheaper the labor, yet the
amount of labor required should never
deter one from growing a crop. A crop
that pays we'll one year may not be
profitable the next, as there is an jn-
ducement, by higher prices. for the
farmers to seek the crop that pays best
but there are too many farmers who adj
here closely to certain crops and there
by fail to secure the highest prices or
largest profit. The progressive farmer
will keep himself we'll informed and be
always prepared to avail himself of the
advantages open by growinga variety
of crops in order to supply the demands
of all classes.