The Van Buren press., 1896-02-15
FARMER AND PLANTER
TIE FARMERS PROFESSION.
sAny Fool Can be Farmer but 20 Fool
Can not be a Good Farmer


sAny Fool Can be a Farmer but "a Fool
Can not be a Good Farmer"
The time has come when the word
profession, as applied TO the farmers
business, means something. The old
saying, that any fool can be farm
er, is true. but there is great and In
ereasing force Of truth 10 the modern
maxim that "a fool can not be a good
farmer" any fool can be a lawyer,
and q large percentage Of the idiots
that eumber the earth have undoubt-
edly reached ont IN that direction. but
the close, hard work Of the professions
requires well-trained brain N a
sound body. The lawyer destitute
Of energy or sense goes 70 the wall
and is laid TO a financial rest IN the
fame last ditch with the ineOm-
petent farmer. and the same blan-
ket of debt covers their unfortu-
nate remains. Farms are no more
properly asYlums for human failures
than law offices. dissectiug rooms, or
the dhroneed halls of commerce and
trade Farming has become an oecu-
patton for brains as well as muscle.
Inventive genius has turned the busi-
ness bottom inward aud inside ont
during the last 50 years. The true
philosophie spirit which first saw day
in Lord Bacon is turning a flood Of
light upon every principle and detail
OF the farmers vocation, from the proc
esses Of plant life 70 the killing Of po-
tate bugs. That spirit Of inquiry, Of
research, OF painstaking investigation
Is constantly at work, undermining
and blowing mp popular humbugs, lay
ing firmly and deeply in right reason
and sound sense the foundations of
agricultural science, and running
leads in every direction for the
golden grains Of truth that may enrich
and beautifE the farmers profession.
For farming is profession. II was
not n tine middle aces when tilers Of
the sol We're looked upon as a human
vernin and ehristendom applauae5
ignorance aud E-niehtlv butchery; It is
not to-day II Mexico. where q forked
stick serves as plaw and where L is
almost & sin against the Holy Chest 10
have q new idea BHt in tais country.
where intelligent labor 5 hqnafed,
and where laboratories and colleges
and experiment stations and neWspa-
pers and the active brains Of the farm
ers themselves are constantly moving
the business 70 higher and broader
plan I is a profession Of such possibili-
ties that no man should take its name
lightly. Il requires health. energy,
knowledge. sense and grit % be good
farmer do not believe that natural
taste for business is absolutely nee
essary for the successful farmer. A
man can be a good minister. or book
agent or politician. or woman's rights
man. even # he doesn't like II. There
may be little waste Of talent. per
haps, in the clash of sentiment. but
grit can fill that gap and the man sue
ceed. Poets may be bora 10 their in
heritanee Of imagery and song, but the
farmer who Is born into the require
ments Of his business is as scarce as
angels among the business men Of Chi
eago A business Ike farming. which
gives play 70 taste. fancy. invention,
originality IN thinking and working,
can safely be called a profession. The
man who pounds stones upon the high
way has no profession. There is moth
ing Ia the business 10 call into play
his mental powers, and but few Of
his physical The workers in the
mills and factories Of the coun-
try move IN the deepest and mar
rowest ruts Of mechanical mOnot0ny.
Numberless farmers drifting around in
the baekwaters Of by-gone practices
and ideas have no profession, but the
active. progressive, thinking man, who
finds in the accumulated knowledge Of
agriculture food for his memory. and
In the changing seasons and huetuat-
ing markets. the ups and downs Of the
commercial barometer, subjects for his
reason, and in the unexplOred myser-
les of the soil subjects for enthusiastic
research, has a profession for which no
abilities are too great, and no mental
culture can be too thorough. The
farmers profession has the same in
herent nobility that any other respect
able occupation has and no more.
Honest labor in any calling, whether
IN making shoes. selling calico, editing
newspapers, preaching The gospel,
courting girl, driving mules, or run
ming great railroad corporation has
the same stamp Of Divine approval 80
A.. =