The Monitor-register., 1897-12-17
What Constitutes a Practical
Farmer?

ELMER H. sMITH BEFORE THE FARM
Frs INSTITUTE, HELD IN WOODS
TOWN, NOV. 23D, 1897.
l have been pretty busy this fall, as
got behind with my work, and when l
was requested to take part here to ,day,
l hoped it would be something l could
prepare at home, but when 1 got the sub
ject, "What Constitutes a Practical
Farmer ?" l saw that I must 90 among
the neighbors.
take it that the word practical" is
used as We ordinarily use the word
good" in speaking of a successful
farmer, 80 l shall take the subject as
What Constitutes a Good Farmer"
One great feature about farming is the
number of people who don't know a
goose from a hoeharrow, who can tell
you just what to do to turn your farm
into a Klondyke. They are the people
who divide the farmers into the good,
bad and Indifferent classes. Every body
who tides along the road feels free, if
not duty bound, to criticise { farming
operations and point out (after they are
made) the mistakes that nave been
costly, and yet the same system that was
a mistake this year, under different
weather conditions. bring the best re.
suits. 1t is an old saying that "experi.
ence is a great teacher" but in farming
she often plays you fantastic tricks.
Did it ever occur to you how many
standards there are for a good ia rmer
and how many points of view there are
from which to look at ii? One mans
idea of a good farmer, is one who is
always ahead with his work; another's,
a man who doesn't allow any weeds to
grow in his cornfield; another's, a man
who is a good handler of stock a~nother's,
a man who grows two crops a year off
the same piece of land; another's, a man
who grows big crops, and there are peo-
pie who decide whether a man is a good
farmer or not by the brand of whiskey he
drinks and the frequency with which he
sets 'em up" to his friends. Now all
these may be good points, but in my
Judgment, no one alone is an honest
criterion by which to judge a mans ca
pacity as a farmer.
The man who is always ahead with
his work, may spend too much money to
keep in first place; the man who doesn't
allow any weeds to grow in his cornfeld,
may devote too much attention to this
one point of pride, at the expense of
some other necessary branch; the good
handler of stock, may be a poor oropper;
the wo-crops-a-season man may get two
crops off this particular piece of land and
half a crop off some other; I have grown
two crops myself, but nobody called it
good farming, because one was corn and
the other weeds.
The big crop mans crops may cost
more than they come to, because we all
know there is a limit to profitable pro-
duction So it is to be seen that judy
ment in this matter is very liable to be
biased by the judges own ideals and pet
theories.
| have sometimes thought that it
would mo- be a bad definition of a good
farmer to say, any one who could farm
in seasons like '95 and '96 and keep a
lengthsbuaar or tharshynFv
"A good farmer is what--avortsmen
would call an ''all around man." Did
you ever think how little any one man is
superior, in all respects, tt his fellows
We fluid men who are waist high above
others in some special line, but if you
know them and try them, they will be
Woefully low in some other branch.
Like the learned scientist, who could tell
you enough facts and theories in his
branch of science to make your hair
stand on end. yet, when his shoe heel
had come off, and he walked unevenly,
he thought he vas lame. Star Pointer
paced a mile in less than two minutes,
because he was bred and educated for it. .
but hitch him to a city dray with a load
that the dray horse could easily draw
and he would grow fast to the ground
before he could pull it. A Jersey cow
might make IA lbs. of butter in a week,
but it would take her a long time to eat
enough to make her weigh a ton, So we
see that nature produces specialists; but
your all around performers are no. 80
plentiful.
The fact that the farmer must be an
all around man is brought about largely
because his business is ordinarily not
large enough to allow him to devote
himself to any one branch. Often he
must assist in doing the work on the |
farm until he is physically worn out and
in this condition he must plan bis work,
arrange his rotations, decide what will
his most profitable crops and sell his
products. Anybody knows that when
tired and worn out physically, his brain
is far from quick and active. Yet in
this condition he must bargain with a
man who does nothing but buy in one
line and has time and opportunity to
study the situation and devise numerous
tricks of the trade" Is it any wonder
the farmer sometimes get left?
But, you say, let the farmer be a
specialist. Putin head Wilson said:
Some people say it is poor policy to put
III your eggs in one basket, but l say
nut all -FOUR eggs in one basket and then
catch that basket" The mau whose
bread and butter depends on the imme-
late fruits of his labor don't want to
'ank too heavily on speoialties, he may
Don find his nerve chasing his none Y.
Let as suppose a case. Suppose in '95,
man who had studied the agricul-
ural situation and knew all about it
some maker of bicycles, silk hats or
carriages) and had seen a
'ision that potatoes were going to be
Vorth a dollar a bushel ia the fall and
the weather conditions were going
0 be just right to grow 800 bushels per
ore on poor land. 1t strikes me that
specialist would have had to watch 7
is one basket OF eggs that winter sitting ,
p in the dark with no fire. =
Few farmers are situated financially SO :
aey can be specialists. The unknown q
of weather and consequent g
lelds are too great. But there is one
ind OF farmer-specialist that can be sue q
sssful and a good farmer If he has not G
20 much land, and he is the man who Z
roas into it and does not 90 into it. He q
oes not tie up to it till he thoroug hly {