Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1897-06-25
FARMER AND PLANTER.
FOLLiES OF FARMERS.
A Few Things to BIO Avoided and Some to
la nhse ryad

n rev Ihlngs TO DO Avoiueu anu oomc 10
be Observed.
1t is very foolish for farmer TO send
$40, S25, $50 or 500 worth of produce to
an entire stranger man or a firm of
whom he knows absolutely nothing,
except he or they send out price list
or circular, and offer him certain prices
for his products.
If the offered prices are higher than
snch goods are selling for, he may be
pretty sure the firm is q fraud. 1t is a
shame to the government of this land
that men are allowed to cheat farmers
out of thousands of dollars without be-
ing checked or brought to prison. 1t
does seem as though laws might be en-
acted with severe penalties, penalties
commensurate with the evil and harm
DONE and that these pirates, sharks and
robbers might be punished for their
crimes. Perhaps it is one of the follies
Of farmers that they do not agitate the
matter until such scoundrels get their
just deserts. But there is way to
avoid them-I would say many ways.
One is to take some really good farmers
paper and deal with commission men
who advertise in them. Then II you
have trouble, go for the publisher of
the paper which advertised them. This
would make publishers more careful
whom they permitted to use their col
umns. But right here we meet another
of the farmers follies. Some of them
do not take single good agricultural
paper, and far too many OF them do
not know enough of business and of
the, market end of their business to
properly pack and ship their produce.
1t is always best TO write to the dealer
for directions how to put up and ship
your commodities, and then carefully
follow his advice.
1t is folly to send poor products
mixed in with good. 1t spoils the sale
of the goods, and adds to the freight
bill. Take ten barrels of mixed apples,
sort out four or five and ship the re-
mainder. They will bring more than
the ten unsorted barrels would, the
freight will be about half as much, and
the poor apples will make good stock
feed worth from ten to 10 cents n
bushel. This is sample of all kinds
of shipment Always keep poor prod
ucts home. Nothing whatever is gained
by sending them to market. If you
want to ruin your reputation, put lot
of poor apples or other produce in the
bottom and body of the package and
finish off the top with the finest. This
is about as great folly as farmer can
commit. Let the grocers and druggists
and makers of frauds and shoddy
shams do all that sort of thing. Let
the farmers keep their hands from it,
and then they can demand that state
and national governments suppress
these forms of robbery.
There are markets which make no
distinction between good and poor
products. You don't want to have any
thing TO do with such. Once get in
the way of growing fine things, and
you will see the folly of trying opalm
off poor products. To raise the best,
one must have the best Seed make the
soil very rich, keep weeds down, attend
to thinning. 1t is folly to buy cheap
and poor seed, folly to economic by
using too little manure, folly to crowd
growing plants
Another great folly of farmers OF
anyone else is to think they know SC
much that they do not need to keer
learning. God made man to always be
learner. Ignorance inheres in mans
nature. Only God has perfect knowl
edge and never needs to learn. 1t is
pride which makes a man think he
knows too much to be learner. Com
mon farmers need the hcl p and advice
of scientific men, and the latter need
many times to learn of the common
farmer. A mans knowledge is not tC
be despised because he has never beer
to college, nor is the knowledge o
schools to be lightly esteemed. Every
farmer needs to learn all he can from
his neighbors, from institute lecturers
from station bulletins, and from agri
cultural papers. The best and mos
successful farmers write for these pa
pcrs, and that farmer loses great dea
who does not read one or more of sucl
papers. -Cor. N. Y. Tribune.