The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-01-10
AGRICULTURAL.

AGKlCOL 1 OKfAIs l The line between the old year of 1904
 and the new year. 190o. is obnterated, and | we have entered into the new year. This l line though an imaginary one, comes and
 goes and with its going we leave behind
 us the things of the past and pass on into
 other and newer responsibilities. We know l something of what the old year brought
 us. We can look back now over It's la
 bors, disappointments and sorrows, as well as recall the many blessing which 1 1t brought to us. The history of the 1 old year is now written and is recorded with the things of the past.
 l Not so of the new-its history must be
 made as we go, and what 1t will be time
 alone can tell. However its history to i each of us will be in a great measure
 what we will it to be. We get vast
 amount of good out of life as we journey
 through, as we'll as do much to brighten 1 the lives of others. Yes, life is largely l what we make 1t, or will that it should
 be- This is the season when many new I resolutions are to be made, and as to how
 well these are to be kept, li,-s all other
 things, time will tell.
 1 But we might stop in our great rush of l business long enough to ask ourselves l 1 year one of the first and most important
 of these questions should be- Has the
 world been any the better by my having l lived in it during the year 1904? Have we brought comfort and encouragement l to any of the suffering and sorrowing
 ones or have we in any way been of any
 real benefit to the world or to our fellow beings?
 That we have made many mistakes l r. zI.1 l look back over the past year and see
 wherein we have made these mistakes | and from them take warning so as to avoid making the same mistakes in tho coming year. Our experiences in the past
 should the better prepare us for the
 duties of the future We cannot have all sunshine and we should not expect it,
 for we could not stand all prosperity. We
 must have disappointments and trials to
 cause us to stop and think who and what
 we are, and to where we are driftingP
 So far as the writer is personally con
 cerned I wish to say that I never before
 felt more encouraged or better prepared
 for the duties of life than I do on enter l ing this new year of 1905. While I do not | take much stock in forming new resou- tions at the end of each year or on the 1 first of every new year, yet from past
 experiences feel greatly encouraged and |
 me for the new year. The better plan will be for us to go forward each day | in the discharge of the duties incumbent 1 upon us. and let each day answer for 1 Itself whether or not we are doing all the | good that our circumstances will permit, | remembering that time lost can never be
 regained. An opportunity to do good
 once let pass can never be recalled. Re
 member we pass this way but once, and |
 we pass they are gone forever. I wish to'
 each of our readers a happy and pros- porous new year. I will now consider for awhile the question of free advice. Giving Free Advice.
 Advice is free and is to be had without
 even the asking for it. But the question 1 is what Is free advice worth upon any l subject? When a man Is inclined to give advice he should examine himself and see 1 If he Is capable of advising? Most of us l get in this mood of wanting to advise oth- | CTS. That there are many who need kind 1 ly advice there is also no question. We
 may form close observation of things as | they occur and from experience be able | to give advice which may be of great | help to others if followed. But all such | advice should be given in a friendly way and when there is no personal interest in 1 giving it.
 | Now It is said, and truly so, too. that | the farmers are receiving more free ad- vice-given from all professions and | classes-than any other people of our country. No doubt but that most of this advice is well meant and given in a | friendly spirit, but unfortunately much of | it Is given through ignorance, and in- | stead of proving a benefit to the farmers | it works disaster and ruin. l have in mind right now q case of this kind that came up in farmers meeting that was holding yesterday. While discussing alfalfa one farmer said that he had no success with alfalfa that his crop, l though he got fine stand, died out en- | tirely the first fall. When asked how | he had managed the crop he said: T fol- | lowed the instructions as given in my agricultural paper, which said that I should now the crop six times the first year" Now this was a great piece of ignorance on the part of the given, and
 the farmer certainly had a very poor
 knowledge of plants or plant growth, for he should have known better. This kind of advice depends entirely upon condi- tions and this farmer simply moved his alfalfa to death. If ali such farmers would spend the winters in farmers in- stitute meetings they would learn better than to take such advice.
 Another case and there can be many such given. read a short time ago of a man who was trying to persuade farmers to plant strawberries in large blocks. promising them that he would sell twen- ty cars per day for them al g per case. Now farmer should pay no attention to such stuff, for no one is able to tell what the market price for strawberries or any other crop for that matter. will be next summer.
 Now the thing for the farmers to do is to so educate themselves that they will be able to know whether or not this free advice is worth anything. There is now no longer any excuse for q farmer not being fully informed on nearly al prac- tical questions as pertains to his best farming interests. The farmers insti- tutes are doing q great work along this line and would do far more if farmers would only attend these meetings. Many farmers think that the farmers institute is place where they are asked to sit and hear dry lecture from eornc fe11ou