The Kenna record. (Kenna, Roosevelt County, N.M.) 190?-1924, 1910-03-18
The Farmer Should Study and Learn
10 Master His AyOcatiOn-It TaRe>
Brain t. Farm.

| do not intend to teach any one how
to farm, for the simple reason that
! am still a pupil in this most success
full occupation. In fact, am going to
venture the statement that it is little
use to attempt to teach any man any
thing. In other words, any man who
knows only what he has been taught
ia very poorly equipped for any avoca-
ton in life; the world is full of fail
ures, who have been well taught, the
merchant whose only equipment is his
business college education; the doc
tor whose only skill consists of what
he learned in the years he spent at
college; the lawyer whose only quail
$ication is a license to practice law,
is as little use to himself and to the
world at large as the farmer whose
only qualification Is the knowledge he
has acquired from others. We do not
desire to be misunderstood that edu-
cation Ia a failure. But we do mean
to emphasize the fact that the mere
acquiring Of knowledge never qualified
a man for any occupation. If you will
examine the career of the successful
merchant, doctor, lawyer or man in
any other avocation, you will find that
he Is just as apt to be a man with
very little schooling. while his unsuc-
cessful competitor may be man OF
splendid education. Again we do not
desire to be misunderstood, and to that
end we will state that the man with
a good education has all the odds al
the start, but to keep up in the race
for success he must treat his educa-
ton as only good start, and must
at once commence to learn, he must
not be satisfied with what he has been
taught but must begin at once and
continue during his whole life to &C
quire knowledge for himself.
The more knowledge of his partlcu-
lar occupation farmer has at the start
the better he is equipped, but there
are two classes of men who are doomed
to failure IL they engage in the occu-
patton of farming; one is the man
whose only stock in trade is certifi-
cate of graduation from the agricul-
tural college, and the other is he who
asserts that he knows all about farm
ing because he was brought UP on
farm and his father was the best
farmer in Arkansas. These fellows
are likely to find themselves in the
predicament of the fellow who under
took to prove himself a Christian by
showing his certificate OF church mem
bership, and who upon finding that
the mice had eaten the certificate, de-
clared the mice had eaten his religion
What desire to impress upon the
reader is that our success as farmers
depends entirely upon our own efforts;
to this end we should study business
methods and the markets Of the world,
that We may obatin the full market
price for all we produce, and In re-
turn purchase what We must have at
the best possible price, and to this
end We should unite for our own pro-
lection. We should purchase the best
and most modern machinery our means
Will permit and should become skilled
mechanics, that we may operate to the
bset advantage and properly care for
our machinery. We should become
skilled as breeders of stock to the
end that We may improve the live
stock on our farms, for it is a settled
fact that It costs us less to feed a we'll
bred animal, than to keep mongreI
In bare existence, In fact We should
learn that If we have 500 to spend for
mich cows, we would better buy a
good cow for 800 than three at $33
each, tie chances are We would have
more milk and two less cows to feed.
A good Berkshire hog will produce
more salable meat on a given amount
Of feed than three "Razorbacks.
A good flock of pure bred hens will
produce more on less feed than three
times their number of "Dunghills."
In conclusion. we should read all we
ran fin' ON any subject applicable to