Sequachee Valley news. (Sequachee [Sequatchie], Tenn.) 1896-1952, 1913-01-16
PROGRESSIVE FARMERS
ARE MAKING MONEY
BY Capt T. +. Peck, Commissioner of
Agriculture.

BY Capt T. +. Peck, Commissioner of
Agriculture.
Xenophon, who lived about four
hundred years before Christ, said;
Agriculture is an art that renders
those who understand it rich, but
leaves those who do not understand it,
however much they may labor in it, to
live in poverty
/ The same can be said with equal
force today. Those who understand ag
riculture aud put in practice the
knowledge are making money. Those
who farm and Go not understand it,
are eking out an existence.
The trouble with as has been that
too many of us thought any fool could
be farmer. If we have bright boy
of great promise, we must train him
for profession. We lost sight of the
fact that all professions and vocations
grew out of the needs of the farmer.
When this country was settled up,
land was rich and cheap, and slave la
bor was available. 1t did not require
much knowledge to get profitable crops
and no thought was given to keeping
up the fertility of the soil. In time
the most fertile land was put in culti-
walton, was cropped year after year
with no thought of anything but i'm
mediate returns; gradually the volume
of crops reduced. Then the war de-
prived the planters of theil slave la
Dor.
Development of timber and mineral
resources took other labor away from
the farm. The owners at last realized
that they must rebuild their soil.
Science has demonstrated that it can
be done and that people have never
had any definite idea of the possibili-
ties Of the production when given the
intelligent management they should
have.
Brainy men have decided that any
fool cannot make farmer; they have
decided that agriculture opens a field
of greater possibilities and greater op-
portunities than in any other field,
With this knowledge is coming greater
respect for the agriculturist The
caracturist will seek other subjects
than the "Hayseed and Country Bump
kim for his ridicule.
This awakening is natural and was
brought about by natural develop
ment. The tide from the farm to pub
lie works has reduced production of
food stuffs, and prices have climbed
upward While the bulk of farmers
continue their haphazard methods a
few scattered over the State were
ready for the high prices and are pros
pering, and their methods are attrac t.
ing attention. People are learning
that the progressive farmer is succeed
ing and making money because he has
that thorough and intimate knowledge
of his work that the man must have
who succeeds in manufacturing, bust
ness or mining.
The people of the county are Just
to wake up to the fact that
dRTlCuIbuTo W DC buIScSoluliJ pAoOOaO-
ed, requires intelligence and energy, |
and that it offers reward commensu-
rate with the intelligence and energy
given it. We need not be surprised to
see the brightest and brainiest young
men equip themselves for agricultural
pursuits, because the independence,
the healthfulness together with the
for greater profit cannot
fail to appeal to them.
With our agriculture developed as it
should be, the wealth Of the United
States will be increased many fold.
European counties have passed through
the baphazard experience we are now
beginning to recover from, but that
was many years ago and we can
learn many valuable lessons from
them in the conservation of soils If we
will.
We have been too busy nation
building to give attention to soil build
ing and conservation, but the time is
here when these subjects are making
themselves felt in way that will in
sure them getting the attention they