The Advocate and news., 1899-02-01

latiOn that may be brought TO bear upon
1t. Surely such discovery and an avo-
cation founded upon it are worthy Of
the highest intelligence and the pro-
fOundest thought Of man.
That there should be established and
widely circulated numerous journals de-
voted to the discussion Of topics Of In
terest to this great business, then, Is not
strange, but entirely natural and logical.
The only wonder is that any man or fam
lily engaged or interested in agricultural
pursuits should go without them A good
agricultural journal brings into the fam
lily each week full discussion Of every
topic of interest on the farm, with sug-
gestions as to methods Of cultivation,
care Of stock, convenient appliances, ap-
proved tools and implements, water sup
ply, handy barns and buildings, prOfita-
BILE crops and advantageous markets, and
the entire expense Of such journal to
the family can more than be met by set
ting one hen in the spring.
The lawyer who neglects to read the
journals Of his profession which give
the freshest and latest decisions Of the
courts Of last resort finds himself out
stripped by his more diligent brethren.
The physician or surgeon who does not
keep himself abreast with the times by
reading of new discoveries and new rem
edies as they appear in the medical jour-
nails soon drops out of sight, and the up
to-date merchant knows that he must
study his trade journals II he would hold
his own in the sharp conflict and Compe-
tition of trade. Editors and publishers
have their journals devoted to their pro-
fession, educational publications are
great helps to professors and teachers,
churchmen read their UNCONVENTIONAL
papers, actors and negro minstrels, who
make their living by kicking up their
heels on the stage have their papers to
suggest to them the latest capers. Surely
the farmer can find in the agricultural
journals as great an advantage as any
Of these.
No man can compute the gain which
has come to farmers, and the advantage
which has come to the whole world
through the discussions put out by the
farm journals. They have shown the rea-
sons for things from a scientific stand
point. They have taught how moist
ure can be conserved through tillage.
They have taught the necessity for rota-
ton Of crops They have convinced all
that clover will renew the fertility OF
the soil. They have advanced dairying
interests and sheep husbandry, and have
encouraged and promoted the improve
ment OF stock and increased the produc-
tiOn Of beef and pork. It would be te-
diOus to recount all the advantages that
have come through the agricultural
press, and that within the memory of
men not yet old.
A farm paper need not be taken as q
law laid down, receipt book, or as q
Doctors prescription. Its mission is to
awaken the mind and start the thinking
faculties to work. The man who goes
out to plow corn for no other reason than
that his father before him went out to
plow corn would never ennoble his call
Ing, to say the least. He Is no more
truly farmer than is the horse that
pulls his plow. But when he begins to
think why he plows the corn, the purpose
for which he tolls, the effect OF his culti-
walton upon the soil and upon the grow
Ing crop, then he has advanced wonder
fully In the mental scale, and his labor
takes on a new dignity. This kind of
intelligence the farm paper cultivates,
and in this respect it ennObles and digni-
ties the pursuit of agriculture.
Comparisons are said to be odiOus, but
they force themselves upon us. The up-
to-date farmer, with fertile fields and
well-filled barns, with improved stock in
his pastures and feed lots and his sons
and daughters at college, is a reader Of
the farm journals
The farmer who keeps penny royal
bull and rail pen full of razor-back
hogs, whose fields yield but scanty crops
and whose stock is sheltered by a barb
wire fence, whose sons leave home at
the first opportunity, and whose daugh-
ters go out to work whenever they need
new pair of shoes, is generally not
reader of the farm journals.
/, like all Others, would like to do some
gOOd In NV dav nnd vaUarottOv, ,v,l.N.