The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1897-03-06

Books and newspapers record the OBJ
servations and experience of others
and draw the conclusions of the writer
therefrom, and the experience and OBJ.
servation does not suffer on this &C.
count
That there is some reason for the ]
prejudice should be freely admitted.
Not every observation, either spoken or
written, is correct. Two different per-
sons are very likely to draw different
conclusions from the same facts, and it
matters not whit whether they are
spoken or written. The main reason,
however, for prejudice lies in this, that
readers do not always comprehend the
real mission and object of the agricnl-
tural book or paper. That mission is
not to lay down fixed rule for the
guidance of farmers, but to enunciate
principles which farmers can study
/ until they thoroughly understand
them, and then apply according to va
rying conditions and circumstances.
In other words. it is not the province
of the editor of the paper or the au.
thor of the book to hitch and unhitch
them as you would water into buck
ct, but to elucidate and explain the
general principles underlying the prac-
tice and constituting the science of
| agriculture. In other words, not to
tell the farmers how to do this or that,
but to show what is to be done, what
the end is that should be gained, and
then let them make their own appIi-
cation under the varying conditions
and circumstances of the farm, the
country, and of the season. No man
can afford to tell farmers in a
general way what to do or what not to
do. The fact is, the farmers themselves
know more about it than does the edi-
tor, even though he were spending all
his time on the farm. He might know
what to do on his farm and under his
circumstances, but would not neces.
sarily know what was the right thing
to be done in the next state, in the next
county, or even on the farm ad joining.
1t is in this light and with this object
in view that agricultural papers shoald
be read; more for the purpose of learn
ing the why and the how, more for the
purpose OF knowing the underlying
principle than the actual practice.
When you have explained fully the ma
ture of the seed bed required, for in
stance, for a good crop of wheat, the
conditions under which the wheat
should be sown, and the kind of wheat
adapted to the particular locality, you
have done about all that can be done.
The farmer will know how to get that
kind Of seed bed and how to plant il
in that way better than any man can
tell him.
Books are all right in their place;
agricultural papers are invalua BILE and
essential to the highest success, but
they should be used as we use any
other implement, for the purpose for
which they were intended, and not for
an entirely different purpose. They
are mind quickeners rather than train.
ers. Their teachings should be taken
for substance of doctrine, rather thar
particular detail. They are not guides
leading blind men around and show
ing them the way, but rather every
day interests, suggestive rather thar
exhaustive, teachers of principle.
rather than methods. Thus used they
are among the best investments tha'
can be made on any farm.-Walthau
Farmer.