The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1904-07-28


that If plant this corn it will produce
likeness of itself 1 hold in my hand
another piece of matter, which is a key.
1t is steel l presume; however, did not
steal it. This key Is also made up
like the corn of compounds, and these
OF elements. 1t has iron and other
metals in 1t which unite with the basic
metal iron to form steel. 1t has GER
tain characteristics and qualities. Sup
pose l plant 1t in the soil. 1t will not
grow and give us key tree and make
us more keys. 1t will, after awhile,
rust and loose it's characteristics.
/ On the other hand if l plant the grain
of corn in the soil and If something
does not get the corn, and If 1t is
planted in the right kind of soil, Will
have something like this ear in a few
months. That is the difference between
organic and inorganic matter. And
yet the manufacturers of that key, the
men who mined the ore. the men who
smelted it, and made it into pig, the
men who rolled it into billets and final
| ~ the men who made tho key itself,
every one of those men gets more for
his days labor than the most intelli
gent farmer in Alabama. And yet
say to you that the intelligence re-
CURED to make that key is not one
| half what is needed to make that grain
of corn produce the best result.
Now that is not fiattery, it is the
| truth. In that grain of corn from
which We will ultimately make anoth
| er ear, we find the two great princi
Piles of food and of life. OF life we
know nothing. so we will cut it out, but
there are some things about the corn
that we may know. We know that
| three things are necessary to make an
other ear. First, that the grain be
planted: second, that it have the right
environments or surroundings; third,
| that II have the proper food We
know, too, that there are enemies to
that grain of corn from the time 1t is
placed in the ground. The crow would
steal II, and the various insects would
destroy it, and there are diseases and
germs from within that would take its
| life. IT is just so with the life of man.
He is in danger of getting shot. He is
in danger of death from his birth. Be
| sides the more evident enemies, the
| germs of typhoid may seize him to de-
| stroy, or some other disease. The ed
| ucated farmer must know the enemies
| OF his plant. He must know all the
| enemies, not simply know enough of
the crow to put up shirt and a pair
of pants. to scare it. He must go fur
| ther. The educated agriculturist must
know all the enemies and the causes of
| the diseases and must know all the
| influences that may be brought to bear
upon them to protect his plants. So
you see the parallelism between the
doctor and the farmer. The doctor
must know all that pertains to the man
that he may advise him, and keep him
| in health.
What would you think of a mother
who would feed her three days old
baby on potliquor and cabbage? You
would say she was crazy. Now !
would say that there are certain kinds
of soil that are just as bad food for
the corn as the potliquor and the cab
bage are for the baby. The only diff
ference is this: If the baby dies there
is funeral and the preacher talks
about providential loss. If the corn
dies there is no funeral, but the far
mer talks about Providence causing
the failure 1t was no doubt the Lords
will but the foolish mother and the
| ignorant farmer were the executors of
the will. BY the way whenever any
thing bad happens in this world, you
will usually notice that it is the fool
ish who carries out the providentiGl
decree. There is man sick with ap-
pendiCitis. The doctor comes and sass
he has typhoid fever and gives him
turpentine emulsion and the man dies
| 1t is attributed to Providence, but if
| the doctor had known his business and
removed the appendix, the man would
probably have lived. They say That
the Lords will be done: but it is the
foolish doctor that carries it out In
order to make a successful farmer, the
man like the doctor must be able to
make successful diagnosis
You must know also how to select
| the best variety of seed. There you
| farmers have the advantage of the
doctor. He cannot kill out the crimi-
nal class and destroy the disease, be-
cause his patients are human beings,
but you can destroy the smutted corn.
You can improve your stock, but we
doctors cannot If we Could-well, /
expect some of us would get shot.
l want to impress upon you that you
must protect that corn. l do not know
what soil is suitable to corn, | am no
farmer. But ! can tell you what soil
the consumptive will thrive upon and
many other things that you do not
know-and ] am glad you don't. for we
make you pay for our medical advice.
But you gentlemen must remember the
great proposition that in watching that
grain of corn from the time it begins
to grow, you are dealing with the
problems of organic life, and it re-
quires education to know what to do
| and what not to do.
If you remember this, what sort If
farmer will you be? You know there
are different sorts of farmers. On one
occasion l heard Sam Jones use this
illustration. There were two men, one
named Smith and one named Jones
by the way ! use these names because
they are so unusual-and they were
married to twin sisters so like each
other that even their own husbands
could not tell them apart. Now the
father gave each bride one hundred and
sixty acres OF land. and the same num-
Der of mules, pigs and cows. Two
years after. Jones had 81 900 in bank
and his farm in good condition. Smith
had nothing in bank. owed a thousand
dollars, and his farm was not in good
condition. Now what was the differ
enCe? The land was the same the
stock was the same. the wives were
nearly the same. the whole outfit was
so alike that they could not be told
apart without putting on red and blue
ribbons The difference was in the
Jones and Smith.
recollect that when I was a boy
a.res of band that had never been any
use except 70 stop a hole in the
ground a man came along and bought
that fifty acres, and that first year he
made corn and oats for his stock and
seven bales of cotton. Now what was
tho difference between that man and
the other farmers around him? WHY |
he knew his business.
Now what you want to do. nv friends
Of the ploW and the field. is To know |