The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-06-05
ON SECOND THOUGHT
BY JAY e. HOUSE.
(From Philadelphia Public Ledger.)
Farm Notes.

Heaven help the farmer! An in
tensive plan to induce town men to
forego their usual vacations and de-
vote the time saved to work on the
farm is in the making. The town men
are going out to help with the har-
vest. 1t has the backing of n no less
distinguished person than Mr.. Secre-
tary Meredith, of the department of
agriculture. Mr.. Secretary Meredith,
who publishes a widely circulated
farm journal. and who has been in
intimate touch with agriculture in
Iowa for many years, ought to know
better. Probably he does. While it
is fine, ennobling and inspiring plan,
practically speaking. it isn't worth
tinker's dam. A town man on the
farm merely is in the way. He can't
stand the grind and there is little
work on the farm that he could do
effectively. even If he had the physical
stamina to stand the gaff.
They talk about the atrocities COM
mitted by the Huns. No atrocity ever
committed by the Huns, or Germans,
as they are sometimes called, is COM
| parable to that of sending lot of
soft boiled sedentary workers out into
the burning rays of a summer sun to
shock wheat fourteen hours a day.
| The average merchant, clerk. or pro-
fessionai man would be dragging in
ten minutes, and ne would be out of
commission and an additional burden
on the farmers Woodworking women
folks in two hours. They say of golf
that it is the ideaI game because per-
feet condition and the physical equip
ment of the athlete are not required to
play it. They say baseball. tennis and
similar games are too violent for those
not conditioned to the exertion re-
quired. We have played all of the said
games and have worked in the harvest
fields We figure that shocking wheat
is thirteen times as violent as baseball
And shocking wheat goes on twelve to
fourteen hours a day, with only two
brief intervals of rest to break the
monotonous round of toll.
| 1t is possible that the average town
man might. in time, learn to shock
wheat, provided he didn't die of phys
ical exhaustion before he mastered
the elemental principles of the trade.
1t requires. perhaps, as little skill and
knowledge as any farm operation. And
yet, there are a number of things one
needs to know in order effectively 10
assemble the so-called golden sheaves.
They must be shocked in such man
ner that the heads viii be protected
from probable rain, and that the
shock itself will offer the maximum
of resistance to possible winds. Stack
ing wheat is a high-grade perform
ance and calls for the work of an
expert. Loading it on the wagon
which conveys it from field to stack
requires special knowledge and the
plan Of stacking and loading must
first be impaired to the novice by
those having thoro knowledge of the
work acquired thru experience. Han
ding the wheat from the ground or
wagon-"pitching' they used to call
it's "sti ongarm' work. but no man,
however strong and we'll conditioned
can keep it up for any considerable
period without first acquiring the
knack of saving himself in the opera
ton. Pitching wheat to the feed
board of a threshing machine is a
detail requiring both knowledge and
skill, and, in the old days, the best
men of the neighborhood were Sc
lected- to pitch" from the stack or
load. 1t was distinction of a sort to
be a good pitcher"
What town man would do to a
team of horses intrusted to his care is
| a matter about which we have much
of those who follow sedentary occu-
pations could correctly harness a team
and hitch it to a farm implement or
vehicle. A still smaller percentage
would know how much corn to feed.
how much oats, how much hay, or
when and how. Fewer than one-half
| of l per cent would know when or
under what circumstances a farm
team should be watered. Operating
the old-fashioned plows and cultiva-
tors was a considerable job. The ma
chinery now in use Is much more in
| tricate. Not one town man in a hun
bred, provided he had no farm expert
| ence. would know what to do in the
event that he covered up hill of corn.
Milking is one Of the operations of the
farm and an important one town
man would not know when he had
MIXED a COW clean. He would be I'M
able to complete the task within an
/ hour. or repeat it the same day. Milk
ing is the most tiresome and irksome
of operations to the novice. And yet
an experienced man will milk half a
dozen cows in half an hour, night and
morning. and regard it as a light
chore Driving binder or tractor
| involves the ability TO handle from