THE PRACTICAL FARMER. WHO is the practical farmer? Let us look at twe pictures and decide. Here is a farm of 100 acres in ordinary condition. It is owned and tilled by a hard-working man, who, in the busy season, employs one or two assistants. The farm is free from debt, but it does not produce an abundant income; therefore, its owner cannot afford to purchase the best implements, or make other needed improvements; besides, he don't believe in such things. His father was a good solid farmer; so was his grandfather; and so is he, or thinks he is. He is satisfied that the good old way' is best, and he sticks to it. He works from morning till night; from spring till fall. In the winter, he rests, as much as his lessened duties will allow. During this time, he reads little, or nothing. Least of all does he read about farming. He don't want to learn how to dig potatoes out of a book. Book farming is nonsense. Many other similar ideas keep him from agricultural reading. His house is comfort able, and his barns are quite as good as his neighbors', while his farm gives him a living. It is true that his soil does not produce as much as it did ten years ago; but prices are better, and he is satisfied. Let us look at his premises, and see how his affairs are managed. First, examine the land. Well, it is good fair land. Some of it is a little springy, but is not to be called wet. It will produce a ton and a half of hay to the acre-it used to produce There are some stones on the land, but not two tons. enough in his estimation to do harm. The plowed fields are pretty good; they will produce 35 bushels of corn, 13 bushels of wheat, or 30 bushels of oats per acre, when the season is not dry. His father used to get more; but, somehow, the weather is not so favorable as it was in old times. He has thought of raising oot crops, but they take more labor than he can afford to hire. Over, in the back part of the land there is a muck-hole, which is the only piece of worthless land on the whole farm. Now, let us look at the barns and barn-yards. The stables are pretty good. There are some wide cracks in the siding, but they help to ventilate, and make it healthier for the cattle. The manure is thrown out of the back windows, and is left in piles under the eaves on the sunny side of the barn. The rain and sun make it nicer to handle. The cattle have to go some distance for water; and this gives them exercise. All of the cattle are not kept in the stable; the fattening stock are kept in the various fields, where hay is fed out to them from the stack. The barn-yard is often occupied by cattle, and is covered with their manure, which lies there until it is carted on to the land. In the shed are the tools of the farm, consisting of carts, plows-not deep plows, this farmer thinks it best to have roots near the surface of the soil where they can have the benefit of the sun's heat,—a harrow, hoes, rakes, etc. These tools are all in good order; and, unlike those of his less prudent neighbor, they are protected from the weather. The crops are cultivated with the plow and hoe, as they have been since the land was cleared, and as they always will be until this man dies. י, Here is the practical farmer' of the present day. Hard working, out of debt, and economical-of dollars and cents, if not of soil and manures. He is a better farmer than two thirds of the three millions of farmers in the country. He is one of the best farmers in his town-there are but few better in the county, not many in the State. He represents the better class of his profession. With all this, he is, in matters relating to his business, an unreading, unthinking man. He knows nothing of the first principles of farming, and is successful by the indulgence of nature, not because he understands her, and is able to make the most of her assistance. |