The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1902-04-19
FARMER AND PLANTER.
THE "ALL-RoUND" FARMER.
The Man Who Ii Least Likely TO Feea
the Pinch When Drougut
or Crop Failure Comes.


believe in him, this well-built, "all-
round" farmer. In my humble opin-
ion he is the bone and sinew OF this
country. Speaking with all due re-
spect to the great bonanza farmer OF
the western prairies, and giving him
all the credit due him, still believe
the general farmer holds the palm for
real success in the United States TO-
day. Why?
When a great drought strikes the
country who is in sorest trouble! Inc
man who has all his land in wheat or
corn. The failure leaves him strand
ed. A cry of distress goes up from
him. His seasons work has been
swept away. The man who plants MS
farm to potatoes or beans or any one
crop feels the stress of failure far
more than the one who has fields de-
voted to the culture of a number OF
kinds of crops. If the potatoes fali
he still has something else to fall
back on.
There is another view to take OF
this matter. The small farmer is able
| to give his crops better attention
| than the one who has everything IN
vested in one kind of grain or vegeta-
BILE. The work does not come along
all at one season.
But perhaps the best part OF gem
eral farming is to be found in the
fact that it brings to him who en-
cages in it an all-round development
which can not be gained in any other
way. 1t is worth something to a man
to understand the up-to-date methods
CT growing all that the diversified
soils and climates of the country are
able to produce. The capabilities OF
farming are constantly becoming
greater. They are also changing
from year 10 year. 1t is only a COM
paratively little while ago that the
silo. for instance, came into existence.
We have found that we can no long
err depend entirely upon our meadows
for food for our cattle. Changing
conditions have brought about
a change in possibilities of raising
. grass. IT is no small task to under
, stand how to properly grow, care for
and use great field of silo corn. A
, different kind of knowledge is re-
quired to grow potatoes or fruit sue
Icessfully Dairying also calls into
: play still another set of facilities
!, Of this the specialist knows compare
lively nothing. He knows howto grew
: one particular kind. of crop, but OF
the wider education which general
! farming requires he knows compare
i lively nothing. And this broader
!, knowledge the times demand of lin
Il who desires success in its true sense
. There is satisfaction in seeing the
e variety of crops growing on the farm
h devoted to general farming which
n does not attach to special farming
h The fields of corn verging toward ma
a turity harmorize pleasantly with thu
K waving oat or wheat fields. The acres
/, in potatoes, fresh in their coats O
e green, give variety, while the or
chards, bending under their weigh
e of fruit, form most enchanting pic
1t ture. And this cultivation OF tn
d sense of beauty and the effect thu
E. produced on the heart of him who la
/; had a hand in sowing and cultivatinl
M the crops, is by no means to b
N passed by lightly. For it is not all o
e life to live and make money. Tn
E. culture of the heart which ought I
lie go with the tilling of the soil is i
ly many ways most valuable of all.
st Young people on the farm are yer
t, susceptible to influences which do nc
a affect those of older years. Thei
future is largely determined by tn
to impressions of youth. 1t can not b
of questioned that the beauties of til
to farm devoted to general farmn
de have q marked influence upon I'll
lis heart. They have tendency
ell wean away from, or produce an a
i'd. tachment for, the country and i
ed life. 1t seems to me this should M
he be overlooked. The farm ought
at be so attractive that our boys ar
girls would love it and be drawn t
t. ward it as home for all their live
u Then the shop and the factory won
to. lose their supreme charms. We wou
Is: have the help and comfort of o.
DIV hildren as we come up to old ag
uh Life would then be less a thing to
lhs dreaded than it is now when we Loo
aih forward to gray hairs alone on t
me farm.
vas So we plead for the general farmt
er Edgar L. Vincent, in Farm al
'iis Fireside.