The Florida agriculturist., 1907-05-22
Cottage Hill, Fla.
The Farming of the Future.

The Farming of the Future.
The best way to grow crops is
the burden Of agricultural teaching
up ito the present time. This is i'm
portan1t, but when you have the
crop raised if you do not know
the best ways of marketing it,
all your labor may be wasted. Very
few agricultural editors have anything
to say about this phase of farming.
In writing about the future OF farming,
the editor of Home and Farm dWells
especially on this part of the farmers S
education:
Home and Farm has recently given
an account of the transformation of
what was once desert lands in the
West through new processes of farm
ing Other lands need to be reclaimed
besides these arid lands wanting water.
There are swamp lands with too much
water, and these need to be drained
and brought under cultivation and
compelled to produce food supplies for
the worlds ever-increaslng population.
But aside from these great plans for
bringing heretofore worthless lands
under the dominion of the plow, the
character of farming is being advanc-
ed and business principles and sclen-
tihc principles applied to the cultiva-
ton Of the soil.
The improvement in farming me-
thods is the step that must be taken
as the free lands disappear. Here
tofore men might move from section
to section, merely cultivating the sur-
face of the soil, but as lands increase
in value-that is, as the unoccupied
lands gradually disappear-it becomes
necessary to put a mans mind into
his business on the farm as elsewhere.
Farming requires thought as well
as labor; education as we'll as industry.
The science of chemistry will have
more to do with farming hereafter
than with almost any other branch of
business. 1t is chemistry that tells us
the nature of the soil and it's needs. It
is chemistry that will tell us the best
food for different plants. 1t is chem
istry that will enable us ito secure
from every crop the largest results
1t is chemistry that will reduce the
waste of the farm to the lowest quaint
ity as it IS reducing the waste Of the
factory, making waste or by-products
profitable.
Moreover, the farmer will study his
market and determine the cost OF
transportation to that market More
than that he will study the demands
of the nearest market and regulate his
crops accordingly. The farmer must
know his own soil, must know his own
business. Then he must know some
thing of the business of his neighbors
and the business of contiguous towns
and the means of reaching his custom
ers at the lowest cost.
The farmer has a double business.
He is both producer and merchant.
1t is not sufficient that he raise crops,
but that he sell these crops or ex-
change them for the things that he
needs. He must consider, therefore,
every step in the process of exchange.
Education is secured not only in the
college; it is secured at home, around
the lamp by the reading of books and
newspapers; secured through confer
ence with his neighbors, secured by
competition, by experience. The
farmer must profit by his own mis-
takes and profit by the mistakes of
others. The time has passed when
the farmer can be satisfied with merely
making both ends meet He needs
to have his farm in better condition
every vea- than ~ 1,1oc tho 1,aor haforA