The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-03-15
THE FARMERS poor RELATIONS


When the farmer takes the sun and
soil into partnership for the production
of the materials for feeding and cloth
ing himself and the rest OF the human
family, he is obliged to take into the
concern to share, not in it's profits, but
in it's products before maturity has
made profit-sharing possible, an inn
mense number of the poor relations of
the sun and the soil They come with
out his invitation and make themselves
at home in his fields, his orchards and
garden. If there is anything left for
him after their appetites are stated. it
is only because their numbers are in
sufficient to the consumption Of all.
They are, like all poor relations, a pro-
life set, and once in a while. under
faVoring conditions, they augment in
numbers enough to take all, leaving
the partner, who has contributed labor
and capital, to marvel over the mys-
ferrous dispensations of Providence
But, whether they take much or little
they are always there, eating, DESTROY
ing, propagatihg and Iessening the
quantity that nature, but for the para
Sites would yield to the husbandman.
OF all the handicrafts into which the
activities Of men run, there is no one
attended with such certainties Of loss
and such risks Of failure as is that Of
farming. The manufacturer in his
mill, for whom we are so solicitOus. the
merchant in his store, the owners of
transportation, dealing with the fin
ished products of the soil, are COMPARE
lively exempt from charges of main
tenance Of these poor relations of the
farmers partners, while operating for
the most part under sheltering roofs.
their products are not open to the mer-
CHESS assaults of the elements of the
air when some disturbance has thrown
them out of balance. For them no I'M
timely frosts blast, no hail destroys.
no fierce winds level, no whitening
sun blights But from seed time to
harvest there is no day that the farmer
may not see his labor and capital swept
away by a visitation of one of these.
Then, if the season passes propitiousIy.
if winds are mild and suns heat tenn
pered and storms come not, the poor
relations are there feasting upon him
and making ample provision for the
perpetuation Of their kind. Their num-
Der is legion and their species number
less. They fly the air and crawl upon
the surface and burrow beneath it.
They are more numerous in that vast
underworld of life that is beyond the
range of the eyes vison than they are
within it,
Happily nature, in the main, keeps
the balance Of power even, so that
rarely does any species attain to num-
bers that permit widespread destruc-
ton. Now and then the balance is
disturbed, and the farmer has his fields
swept clean by the locust. the chfnch
bug or the fly. but by making one
species. its eggs or its young, the choice
food Of some other, increase is kept in
check. Contagious diseases, too, visit
these mites Of the insect world to keep
down over-population, as they visit hu
mainly, possibly for the same end.
Still enough remain to decrease by mil
lions Of dollars annually the products
of the farms Of the world and to make
their study, experimentation with them.
discovery of their enemies and Of the
diseases that destroy them, as we'll as
the other remedies nature provides. not
only most interesting in ITSELF but one
Of immense value to the farmer and
those whom he feeds. Every modern
state now maintains its schools and
laboratories where this field of search
is worked and whence goes forth in
formation to the farms to enable the
tillers of the soil to cope with their
poor and ravenCus relations. We hear
much about protecting the farmer by
means of tariffs; it would be more SEN
sible to extend this practical protection
against his partners poor relations.