The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-07-20

by conserving the trees, by carefully
selecting and improving their seeds,
the armer are carrying out the
fundamental idea of Gods purpose
that every thing in the world should
be used for the greatest and highest
use Of mankind. They are thus do
ing the part of the five-talent man and
The two-talent man, who doubled the
talents at their command; but those
who do not these things are playing
h part of the one-talent man who
hid his talent and, SO far as he was
concerned, would not have cared, il
his talent had rusted away. Every
man is held responsible and
able for the use he make of the lands,
the trees, he streams, and whatever
blessings of God may be placed in his
care and keeping
There are two things that I observed
that ought not to be. One is that
many farmers keep right on making
a single money crop. They are not
taking advantage of the Investigation
of crops. They will plant an entire
crop of cotton or tobacco, with little
else If the prices on that particular
crop are high. all we'll and good. II
they are low, why the farmer cannot
pay all his expenses for the crop, and,
at the same time, has nothing else to
fail back on. He doesn't raise enough
hog and hominy". He still prefers
to have his meat house, his corn crib
and his hay stack in some other State.
Perhaps those things are just as val
liable as il raised here; yet, they are
considerably more costly, because Of
he freight, which must be finally
paid by the last purchaser. and sever
al middle mems profits, which must
also be paid by him.
Another evil is that the timber
sold off the farms by their owners to
the lumbermen<is taken from the
woods at horrible waste. In cutting
the trees that are of sufficient size for
lumber, large numbers of younger
trees are cut down and broken, and,
under the circumstances have TO be
left there in the woods to rot. The
upper part of the tree cut for lum-
Der goes the same way: If properly
conserved the timber of the United
States would always be sufficient for
it's needs. It rapidly ~replenishes it
self. | recently measured two trees
which have grown up on land that
was in cultivation in 1891. One was,
at two feet from theground, Al inches
in circumference and the other so in
cheS. 1t is to be hoped that the
lumbermen will sometime get to the
point at which every tree that must be
cut down and every part of the lum-
Der tree may be utilized for the bene-
fit and blessing of mankind, and that
the government will soon regulate the
cutting of timber.
There is a great blessing to the far
mer now that did not exist twenty
years age in the rural free delivery
of mail. The daily papers and agri-
cultural papers and religious papers
and magazines have so much more
circulation now than then. Not only
the agricultural paper has helped to
teach better methods of farming, but
the daily, the weekly. and even the
religious paper in many cases have
their agricultural columns These
have kept before the fareTnr that
which Will mean more to his business.
The Editor of the Progressive Farmer,
| am Informed, has it for the slogan
of his paper now, $500 More a Year
for he average farmerin the South
He may not succeed in teaching the
farmers sufficiently to bring the AZ.
erage income up to $500, Sat there
are coins to be many farmers
whose incomes will be raised that
amount or more by following his ad
vice. My father told me recently
that every issue of the Progressive
Farmer this year had been worth the
subscription price Of the paper. 7
wish to say that in this general i'm
provement in h Of farming the
other secular papers and the relSioI5
papers are having their influence.
Another thing that is making for
better farming is the teaching oG
Agriculture in the Public Scholastic
little text book now used, "ASricu1-
ture for Beginners, is Of 50 very
much practical valu that it Gugh.
not only be taught in every rural
school. but it ought to be read ~
every farmer as we'll. Within anoth-
er twenty years there viii be the
biggest improvement III farming in tho
South ever seer in any industry. 1t
takes less than q generation FOR il -
be seen in the life of q people what
they as children We're taught in the
schools. When the Nature and IF
fectS of Alcoholic Drinks Were irSr
required to be taught in the schools.
no one perhaps dreamed that the re-
suits of it all would be the treTnend-
Gus victories for prohibition now