The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1896-01-14
THE FARMER AND THR PAPER

The work that is accomplished by
farm papers in uplifting the agricul-
ture of the country can never be told.
The silver veins in Idaho and the gold
In the mines and streams Of California
are not sufficient to represent it's value,
Silently their teaching falls into the
soil, and we behold the harvest in the
better returns that are reaped in the
fields and gathered in the stalls. And
so mighty is the influence of this teach
ing that it is gradually uplifting defec
tive practice. 1t is enabling the farmer
to place the foundation of his methods
on the bed rock of correct principles.
1t is shedding new light and new
interest around his work which too
frequently in the past was looked upon
as cherries drudgery. 1t is transfer
ring the burden of back breaking labor
to the horse and the machine or imple
ment which he draws. And it is bring,
ing to him greater gains than he could
possibly have secured without the in,
fluence of such teaching.
The benefits are great; the price is
small. Fellow farmers, we complain
of depression and low prices for our
produce. We murmur if we get no
profit on our products. But do we
ever stop to reflect that the publisher
of the agricultural paper seldom gets
any profit from the sub ,cription reve
nues of his paper? 1t usually costs him
more than the subscription price. His
profits come from the advertising
pages. Let US think of these things as
we enjoy the luxury of the farm paper
that comes to us from week to week,
and as we think of them, let us try and
do something to help the men who are
giving us goods below cost.
Take one issue, and what do we find? I?
We see there information on its every
page that would have rejoiced
the hearts of the readers of a hundred
years ago. We are almost sure to find
in it something bearing on our life
work that is worth far more than the
subscription price of the paper for a
year. 1t keeps US so informed as to
agricultural discovery, that in our
work we can keep abreast of the times
1t summaries knowledge in many in
stances and thereby saves an immense
amount of labor on our part to get at
the conclusions reached. And in a
single article it frequently gives us the
cream of the results of the labors of a
life time spent in some special work.
Are we not under some obligation to
the agricultural pressR Have we no
duty to perform by way of helping on
the good work, other than that of re,
mitting the subscription price at stated
times9
And the help brought by the agricul
tural press is not confined to those who
live upon revenues obtained from the
farm. Farm papers have probably
helped none so much as the teachers of
agriculture. The agricultural teaching
of to day is not based upon the knowl-
edge obtained from standard works
These, as a rule, are yet to be written.
It is rather based, first, upon the expe-
riences CLEANED on the old farm at
home; second, upon the experiences of
men eminently successful in their re-
spective lines of work and, third, upon
information cleaned from the agricul-
tural press, and the last mentioned is
the most prolific source of such infor
national least it has proved so to the
writer. Go on, then, publishers of
farm papers, weary not in the good
work; you are building better than you
know.
Perhaps nine out of every ten farm
ers in the land do not take an agricul-
tural paper at all. They do not take
it, because they do not know its value.
Think of the great disadvantages under
which they labor. Is there no duty
that we owe to these our brethrenq