Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1902-06-24

| have for the last twenty years closely
studied the ups and downs of farm life F.;
the why's and wherefores of success or
failure, and the conviction has been
forced upon me that great deal more
depends upon the man than upon any
other one factor, or, we might say, than
upon any collection of factors.
Some farmers, with nothing to start
with save burden of debts, will with a
rundown farm that has not paid ex-
penses for years in a comparatively short
time by gathering crops that astound the
natives, pay what they owe and be lay
Ing by a competency. Others, with
ample capital, upon the best of land, will
often fail TO make expenses. Now, it is
not difficult to understand these results.
A large percentage of those engaged in
farming are wholly untitled for the busi-
ness. They never seem to realize how
to make the most of their surroundings,
or properly utilize their own time and
efforts. They try TO cultivate more
land than they can do justice to; keep
more horses than they really need, while
their other stock is generally of too
u
Their products are gathered and saved
in the most shiftless manner, and when
offered for sale are of SO poor character
that they scarcely bring expenses. Their
manure pile is allowed To 90 to waste:
their land steadily grows poorer, and
from their standpoint they are ready-if
need be-to swear that farming does
not pay"
Such being true, we are forced to the
conclusion that farmers are born, not
made, and that the first thing most need
ed is pure blooded stock TO draw from.
| That is men born with natural love for
farming, who adopt farming from choice
rather than from necessity or force of
circumstances; men endowed with good,
hard, common sense, who know good
thing when they see it, and can be taught
that there is really something in book
farming" after ALL men who, in times of
perplexity or adversity, will find a way,
or make it" out of the difficulty. instead
of lOafing at the corner store and "cuss-
ing the weather, the lawmakers or the
low prices of products.
If we compare farmers as class at the
beginning of the nineteenth century
with those at its close, the latter will
gain no ''wreaths of laurel by the COM
parison. What did the pioneer farmers
of this country have TO start with? Lit
tie, indeed, save brain and muscle,
coupled with an inherent love of their
calling. Literally, hewing out an exist
ence from wilderness.
What have not the farmers of to-day?
With their free agricultural colleges,
schools and institutes, where the child of
four years may enter and remain till he
completes his education; their expert
ment stations and the agricultural press
to start them right, on the road to sue
cess, and keep them there; with their
improved labor saving machines and APP
pliances, that convert their time into
money; with their rapid transit by land
and water; with their telegraphs and
telephones, their home and foreign
markets, surrounded by advantages and
privileges-not to mention Injuries
neither enjoyed nor dreamed of by their
predecessors; and, lastly, with all the
rest, they have multitude of industries
to choose from. If certain industry is
not suited to their inclination or to the
section in which they live, they are still
free to select one that is. There is abso-
lutely everything, even to fertility, for
their land ready and waiting for modern
farmers, and yet many fail to make
farming pay. Why? Because, as you
cannot squeeze blood from turnip,"
neither can you, with all these advantages
given, make farmer of a man possess
ing no innate qualities for the business.
Now, with these born farmers to start
with each endowed with brains to plan
and energy and strength TO execute, the
question naturally arises, What do they
need most? Is it an easy berth, wherein
they can live without work? Is it govern
ment ownership and control of railroads,
telegraph and steamship lines? Is it
bonded warehouses, run by the govern
ment, wherein they may deposit lot of
cabbages, potatoes or other perishable
produce and draw nine-tenths of their
value on demand? Or is it cheap State
bank currency, with free silver thrown
in, so that money will be more plentiful
and prices higher?
No, They need none of these, but they
do need, first and foremost, liberal
education, in which at least the funda-
mental principles of agriculture are in
cluded. This, in most if not all the
States of the Union, is offered free, the
only items of expense being board and
books, which with due economy can be
reduced to so small sum that there is
no reason why any one desiring should
not secure 1t.
After acquiring an education the
farmer needs patience. He must learn,
and had best learn early, to begin at the
bottom and build upward, and not strive
safe rule to follow in accommodating
wealth, in no matter what vocation, is to
hasten slowly. He also needs prudence
TO lead him safely through the quick
sands of debt. Unless unavoidable Cir
cumstances arise, he should not spend
his money until he has earned it.
He needs perseverance and industry,
to conquer difficulties and discourage
ments that are sure TO spring up all
along the pathway of life. He needs
| firmness of character, to proclaim the
right and dare maintain it, He needs 4.
home of his own, which Blackstone
rightly styles "a mans castle" place
| "where there are none to molest or
make afraid" where he can put his
educational advantages into the best
practical use; by analyzing the character
of his different soils, thus enabling him
to determine the constituent elements
lacking, SO that he may supply them
judiciously and cheaply; by building up
the fertility of his land with home raised
and home mixed fertilizers, in con-
junction with such rotation of crops as
his location and soil demand, thereby
making his farm self sustaining, for un-
less he can make it so he had best try
some other calling.
A home in fee simple, the possession
of which and the consciousness that it is
part and parcel of his native land, in
spires within his breast that love of
country and the flag, its emblem, obtain
able in no other way.
A home in defence of which he is
willing to sacrifice ambition, wealth, even
life itself. A home typical of the happy
home beyond, where, surrounded by
loving wife and family, he enjoys life as
he goes along, where it is a joy and COM
fort to toll for those around him, and
where as the improvements are added
one by one the ties that bind him to it
are drawn closer and closer as the years
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