The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1898-02-22

luTulilB you VIII hhu ~ 10 INV oopu'Vihb
briars, grubbing bushes, building
fences, ditching, plowing, sowing,
and toiling, but their farming con.
sists in having some one do these
things, while they see 1t done. Such
men need to have the experience
that the old deacon got who said it
was not hard to preach, and that the
pastor got to much pay, and as the
story goes it was agreed to let him
try, so at the appointed time he as
cended the pulpit and gives out his
hymn and all goes well until he has
road his text, and then as he could
not think of any thing else to say, he
read his text again, and then third
time and no words came, when the
old Deacon in his misery says,
"brethern if you thiuk it is not hard
work to preach you just get up and
try it," There is enc other class in
cities who talk and think that farm
ing is no task because they never
worked in their lives, and they are
the conceited. spindle-shanked dudes
who as Freeman at Logan defined
that class, are those who know moth
ing but to dress in tight fitting trous-
ers, part their hair in the middle and
lard it down, and have no brains
under the hair" would enjoy see
ing one of these fine fellows who
denominates the farmers, "hayseeds"
take little experience in farming
''just for fun" on one of our Hook
ing county new ground hillsides, be-
tween the handles Of jumping
shovel plow, just for one pull along
by big beech stump, and if, after
ward, he did not look so fine, he
would surely have more sense, which
would be great gam to him. Again,
the definition with which we started,
says farm is an extended piece of
land devoted to agriculture, and
right now l wish to consider the sub
ject of how extended. In a paper at
our Logan Institute we were told
that eighty acres would probably be
the size of the ideal farm. The paper
referred to was read by G. M. Free
man and was one of the best of the
session and was on the subject of
Special VS. Mixed farming. And as
the side he was arguing was in favor
of Special farming, he very correctly
concluded. it seemed to me, that
about eighty acres was enough land
for one man to follow Special farm
ing. But, there is the question, Is
specirl farming our best line, in this
region? By special farming we
would mean confining ourselves to
single, or few crops, which crops,
| take it, must be out of the regular
line, that is the raising Of corn wheat,
rye, oats. hay fruit, potatoes, horses,
cattle, sheep and hogs, on one farm,
is mixed farming. While the raising
of one of these crops, and one line of
stock would be special farming in
our sense, but that kind of special
farming is just what has ruined many
men, / think. Take as an example,
Mr.. \. Concludes in 1888 that he will
go into Special Farming and as he
has 16O acres of land he sells say p
of it leaving him SO acres, and he
uses the money he gets for the other
so acres to set up in Special Farming.
Well he looks around and horses are
n good price, and sheep are also pay
ing, he d es not just know which to
invest in, but finally decides endorses.
Well he must have hay and corn.
So this is the outline. He invests in
horses getting fine animals to start
with until his money is used. In
years, by 1891, he has 8 year old colts
to sell; when he began 3year olds ol
the same style as he has, brought
readily 500, in 1891 they are wortl
less than half that, and he decid,
that horse raising is overdone, and
to avoid changing his crops too, al
his land is adapted to hay, he SELL
or trades until he gets rid of hi
horses and gets sheep instead. Now
he is sure he is right for every bod.
wants sheep. He goes in, and in tw'
more years he is ruined man. Or
say, he goes into raising of berries
and small fruits instead in 1894 ant
unless he has a better market thai
his region affords he has ere this
decided that this too, was mistake
Without going into details further i
seems to me that the majority of II
farmers in this county, must still
take our chances on mixed farming
: Nothing is more uncertain in thi
region than the weather and price
of farm products. The man who Of
Il reasonably large farm keeps hi
eyes wide open, and while raisin
all kinds of crops, and all kinds c
stock, to which his land is adapted
raises most of that crop of thos
crops which seem most likely to b
t profitable and of stock likewise
, seen to me, to have quite an ad
vantage over the special line farme
A little testimony on this point,
l heard one of Hooking county's mos
successful farmers say, after tbs
, lecture, that he started on 80 acre
and that he verify believed that If h