The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1899-02-28
THE FARMER AS A SKILLED
LABORER.

There is quite a distinction drawn In
these last days between common IaOor
and skilled labor, says Wallace's Ear
mar Bv common labor is meant that
which REQUIRES nothing but main
strength and ability to resist heat and
cold, such as working on the street or
O n the road, or doing other labor re-
curing mainly brute force. There Is
a disposition on the part Of a good
many people to regard farm labor as
of this short. 1t is difficult to make a
greater mistake. The lAborer in the
factory requires a certain degree Of
skill in handling a particular machine
which is employed. His skill, however,
is limited to the manipulation Of that
machine. The machine is made to
turn out g certain kind Of work with
exactness. It makes no mistakes. All
the operator has to do is to learn how
to feed it. He has the manipulation to
learn and that is all. Almost any one
can learn that, ard to call this skilled
labor in comparison with the labor OF
the farm is utter nonsense. We are
not now speaking Of farm hands or
men employed by the day or by the
month. But even in these q much higher
degree of skill is required than of che
ordinary laborer in the factory or IN the
mine, or even the book keeper in the
store. The man who employs a farm
hand simply for his strength and en-
durance and does not take thought OF
his brain, is quite certain to have a
poor and Improbable hand. The man
who runs the farm successfully must
necessarily be a much higher type OF
man than nine tenths Of what are re
garded as skilled laborers. For exam
pie, he must be something Of a doctor,
for he has to deal more or Iess all the
year around, in a general way, with
the cause, the means Of prevention and
the remedies. He must know how to
handle tools, construct or repair build
ings and fences. H3 is necessarily
something of a merchant. He mus
buy and sell and know when to buy
and where and when to sell, He must
Keep his y On the markets about g
| closely as the merchant. He must
know something about bugs, for are
not these among hls WORST enemies 2
II must know what birds prey on the
diff sorts Of bugs and how to en-
courage them to nest on his tarm and
protect them from the small boys and
the pot hunters. H9 must be more or
less of a botanist, must know the vari
GUS grasses and grains, and the condi
tions favorable for their growth. He
must know a good deal about soils and
how to handle them to the best advan.
tage. He must know the condi ioI q
under which moisture may be CON
served or ~evaporated according to cor.
ditions OF circumstances. OF all these
and a great deal more beside he must
have a practical working knowledge
If he is to conduct the farm prof5ably.
To call this type Of a man q mere
laborer and compare him with the
laborer on the street or the railroad,
or in the mine or the factory, or the
CLERK b hind the counter, or the book
keeper at the desk, is ridiculous and
absurd in the extreme. The successful
farmer must be an all around man. He
is not a specialist, cannot be, and it is
we'll for him that he cannot, and one
of the greatest advantages Of the farm
is that it gives the opportunity for an
all around, practical education.