Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1914-05-12
Good Earmin2.

Good farming has always been Q live,
vital subject in the minds Of some mon
since the earliest days of recorded time.
The early Latin and Hindoo writers gave
IL attention and thought out many OF its
problems as they did those of astronomy
with astonishing clearness. And 80 II
will continue always to be q live ques.
tiOn, for under il lies the preservation OF
the soil, its power of production, and
the existence of human life. The main
tenance of fertility is essentially the
work of good farming just as It's de-
struction is the work Of bad farming.
Every rundown farm or exhausted field
points finger OF reproach to the man or
set of men who were 80 brainless and ig-
nOrant as to allow such q thing to be
done.
There are two classes of farmers con-
csrned in this problem of good farming
and the upkeep of fertility; one class
who studies out the principles OF good
farming aud steadfsstly adheres to them ;
the other who follows farming blindiy
by tradition and whose only object is the
present dollar. 1t has long beep said
that men can be trusted to do the right
thing IL they can find financial profit In
SO doing, which is only another way OF
saying that "honesty is the best policy"
if it pays now. II it doesn't pay, rob
bing is the best policy.
One has only to start from Chicago
and travel eastward through Indiana,
Ohio and New York and compare the
condition of the farm lands with what
they were fifty years ago to see that the
men who believed that robbery was the
best policy were greatly in the majority.
But have they prospered by 1t? The
family history of Thousands of those soil
robbing farmers will not show single
instance where wealth and enduring for
tune were built upon that delusive foun-
dation. Not only did the farmer mis-.
lead himself and debauch his own judg-
ment as to the right policy but he edu.
Gated his sons and hired men into the
same belief. And 80 vast tracts of what
were once the finest farming lands of
the country have been despOiled by gen
Grafton after generation of men who did
not believe that it was best morally, eco
and financially to farm from
a wise understanding OF we'll settled
principles. And still the work OF the
same shiftless, shallow policy, ignorant
of sound principles, goes on. Where
there is one farmer who is governed by
principle, who refuses to sell out his
soil by the bushel and blindly call that a
profit, there are fifty who still pursue
the old "catch as catch can" line OF
management. An immense Hood OF
knowledge, of entreaty, OF facts, and
reasoning has been poured
out u pom these farmers who believe that
soil robbipg is the best policy. Had the
same d0wnpour been given to any
other class In American society it would
have created revolution.
What is there about farming that
should so deadeu the intellect, Supply
the intelligence, and make it 80 everlast-
ingly hard for the man behind the plow
to know rightly what he is about, to
rightly understand the forces of nature
that he is 90 blndiy dealing with? An
English writer declares that the same
between ignorance and
kno wledge, between skill and lack OF 1t,
BET ween the work of intelligence and
stupidity, exists in all other callings.
There are hundred misfit lawyers to
one that is an able student of his profes-
sion; hundred low grade mechanics to
one who is intelligent and skillful.
This may be true; at least We cannot
dispute it. But nowhere in any and all
the calliugs of men is ignorance and lack
Of intelligent skill attended by such fear |
full waste of the original bounty Of Ma
ture as in farming. And here is a point
in the controversy that concerns the un-
needing food consumer in our cities |
His life and the lives of
hose he loves depends upon the main.
ienance of the productive energies OF
the soil. That means the future en-
ightment of the average farmer. Igno- |
rance wastes. knowledge only can re-
pair that waste. The future food sup |
ply can only be maintained in proportion
as we increase the knowledge and skill
Of the American farmer. That means |
good farming, ,-Hoard's Dairyman.