The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1907-04-05
FARMING BASIC AND WHOLESOME

President Roosevelt has SAID: There
lis nothing more needed in this country
than the various operations under way
to render farm work additionally scien-
tihc and profitable, as well as more at
tractivc; for no nation can afford to
forget that in the last resort its we'll
being rests upon the well-being and
character of the man who tills the
soil"
These words are eminently worthy
OF the national chief executive. The
greatness and prosperity OF nations may
be traced back always to the soil. No
man is so necessary to the national
veal as the farmer. This is even more
so in America than in the other ma
tons.
| Yet the agricultural department is,
save one, the infant governmental de-
partment at Washington; agriculture
has been almost the last thing 10 which
intelligent, scientific study has been ap-
piled, and the last industry about which
has developed an efficient service OF
printed periodicals. All branches OF
mining and manufacturing, for in
stance. have practical publications Tor
distributing information in their in
ItcrcSt and to their dcvotccS. But cot
ton culture, one OF the greatest nation
al industries. has only within year, in
the Cotton Journal, OF Atlanta, secured
a competent newspaper organ. The
Cotton Journal has sprung into imme-
diatc popularity and it richly deserves
it, Every intelligent cotton planter i'll
the South should have it.
Too long the farmers have taken it
for granted that nothing was to be
learned about tillng the soil more than
each one picked up by his own cNper-
Iicnce, and by a skcptical sQunt at any
new quirks adopted by his ncighbor,
: the latter to be adopted only after some
years OF laughing at his ncighbor, when
i"hs latter has abundantly convinced the
|Skcptic by five years OF object lessons
That study may be inteWgcntly and
,prolltably spent al everything else but
be OF no avail in regard to tilling the
soil is 4 most damaging iallacy. More
over, it is tacit confession on the
part OF the farmer that his vocation is
inferior to that of others. This is 4
confession he should never make, fO1
it is contrary TO fact and an unwilling
reflection on himself. We do not hes.
itatc to say that the most normal, con.
; genial, wholesome, and important sin
gle vocation OF mankind is by all odd.
that OF tilling tn soil. God put man tC
make his living by the sweat OF hi.
: brow, and the complex changes of civ
ilization, which have led many to sub
sist in other ways have not added to
their personal happiness. Sbe renderc,
--sIhatl hatl..iasnau4Aies~sheald ifbe-nn-da,.is'
good churches, better fafn-ipg, ,-thcs,
things will make it more attraStive, anc
these things may be had with1 less O
grind. sacrifice and expense than ir
the large towns and cities. 1t makes
us sad to see family move from thei,
country home to a town, to put theil
children in a good school. To bcgir
with, the monetary cost will be create,
than that required to pay a competen
teacher i'll the home. To end with
everything!
The loneliness Of country life drives
many from it, but if they could bu
have eyes to see, the things on which
| they will probably depend to drive
away the loneliness when they come tc
urban life are superficial, unworthy o
attention, and often positively injuri-
sous. While there is little need Of be-
ing lonely in the country, if ones heart
is open to nature and to God, to the
teeming life OF the fields and the for.
ests. To our thinking, the unfolding
OF the petals of yon rose, the steady
development OF the luxuriant life o.
yon field OF glorious grain, the frisk.
ing OF the work animals on Sunday
morning in the pastures, the cluck
cluck, OF the hen leading her young r
the door-yard, have in them more O.
: wholesome, satisfying comradeshiI
than joSted city streets, more of artis-
tic beauty than yon stately building
more OF music than the din and shrek
OF factory and railway or the clang
OF many bells.
More of soul life, and less OF ftiul
nervous, restlessncss, less belief in the
perennial lie that happiness may be
| had in show and noise and glitter and
change, instead of being thing of the
heart itself,-would nightly tend tc
,paLe Doooto Io,o o,J H. =: A.