Montana farmer-stockman., 1949-07-15
Lore Your Farm
By CLARENCE POE

Copyright by The Progressive Farmer; Reproduced BY Persaisio~
Love your farm. Every farmer should not only love h. work = the
artist loves his work, but in the spirit too, every farmer should love
his farm itself a he would love a favoite horse OF dog.
He should know every rod Of the ground, should know just wh~t
- W. fi1d $500 - lii =. h aould =. 49, , heauHt.1
colt marked with lashes; as much ashamed to have a piece OF ground
worn out from ill treatment as to have q horse gaunt and bony from
neglect; as much hurt from seeing his acres sick from wTetched man
agement as he would be X See his cow halstarving FROM the same
cause.
Love your ground-that piece of Gods creation which yo~ hold IA
fee simple. Fatten its poorer parts IS carefully as YOU would N
aiIng collie. Heal the washed, torn pieces in the hinsides as yox
would barb scars your pony. Feed with legumes and soiIng crops
and fertilizers the barren and quilted patch that needs special
attention; nurse it back to life and beauty and fruitfulness. Make
a meadow of the bottom that is inclined to wash; watch it and care
for it until the kindly root-masses heal every gaping wound.
Have eye to the beautiful in laying off the fieIds-no wretched
beggars coat mixture of little patches and little rents; rather broad
fields fully tended and of as nearly uniform fertility a possible, MAX
ing of your growing crops, as it were, such a beautiful garment, whole
and unbroken, to clothe the fruitful acres God has given you 10
keep and tend even a He gave the First Garden into the keeping
of our first parents.
And s. again we say love your farm Make it a place of beauty, a
place of joyous fruitfulness, an example for your naghbors, a heritage
for your children Make improvements on it that will last beyond
your day.
Name the farm. too. treasure up its history; preserve the traditions
of all the romance and adventure and humor and pathos that are in
any way connected with it; and if some of your folks must leave ii,
let them look back to it with happy memories of beauty and worthy
ideals and of weI-ordered industry.
We have not developed in this country, a we should, the intense
pride that the Engishman feels in being a landowner. 1t gives a
man a distinction that the homeless man has not He is a better
citizen, a free holder, a guardian holding in trust a piece of creation
direct from the hands of the Almighty.
And yet how many-alas, how many-who have such talents in
their keeping are indeed Improbable servants-not so much as keep
ing their treasure unhurt las the one-talented mar in the Bible did
but wearing out and destroying in one brief lifetime the heritage
that the Creator intended to remain fertile and fruitful to feed and
nurture human race, IS long IS the earth shall last
Love your farm. If you cannot be proud of it now, begin today to
make it a thing you can be proud OF. Much dignity has come to you
in that you are the owner and caretaker for a part of Gods footstool;
show yourself worthy of that dignity. Watch earnestly over every
acre. Let no day go by that you do not add something of comelness
and potential fertility to its fields.
And finally, leave some spot beneath the shade of some giant tree
where at last like as a shock of corn cometh in his season" you can
lay down your weary body, leaving the world a little better for your
having lived in it, and earning the approval of the Great Father (Who
made the are of the fields and gardens the first task given man.
Lord"