Rensselaer Republican, Volume 12, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 July 1880 — Plow-Farming. [ARTICLE]

Plow-Farming.

as £°e vl!?sKr and monotonous. jorderto upjto its oonetent’use of the ptownnd\a*row as is compatible with the greatest yield per acre and the allotted time to be devoted to the care as each crop. There should never be such an extent of any one crop as would trespass upon the time neoeeStarr to devote to others equally important in their season. Plowing too mnch land is the rock on which many industrious farmers are stranded. Other important work on the frrm has to he neglected, the labor becomes excessive, and the burthens of the former and his fkmily are simply an oppression which even a galley-slave should not be mbjectod to. It is this mistaken practice which wean the life out of many farmers, bringing on pramtoro ago, disgusting making a slave oThis w&Tand the whole life on the form e mere existence without rest, recreation or enjoyment. To grow rich, to make money, is the Ideclared object of these unnatural sacrifices; and yet no man ever grew rich by such a coarse, .while it has impoverished thousands, and left them with exhausted lands, and rude, comfbrtlew homes. Where form-work is a steaay drag with the effort to cultivate more acres than the force under the control of the former can accomplish in season, and perform with thoroughness, the land is never made to do its best, and the returns are generally for from profitable. And£when, everything is staked on a single crop, failure is sore to be disastroosly often. - A well-ordered form and system of forming contemplates variety and diversified crops. Some will an rely give good returns for (he season’s labor, and a Steady income may be counted upon with much certainty. If the form is largely seeded in tame gnumes, the land will always remain productive when placed nnder the plow. Cattle, sheep and hogs should be part of the money crop, and good orchards should contribute to the former’s income. His fowls are neglected, as a rule, and their profit merely nominal. The dairy product is half lost from a lack of knowledge in ita management, and want es proper arrangements for preserving milk and oreamand manufacturing the best quality of butter. No insignificant sum is expended annually for sweets, largely consisting of inferior molasses, and adulterated, unwholesome syrups, while scores of gallons of the purest and most wholesome go to waste on every form for want es bees to gather aad store it. The hard life and scanty remuneration es the former, so generally complained of, are largely attributable to the lack of ability to develop the full capacity of the form. There are numerous branches in forming, all of which require a degree of special training to pursue with prefit. And again, few formers have a welldefined system, that they pursue steadily, without permitting their plan to be changed by disappointment and partial failures. A well-matured plan of diversified forming, pursued steadily and intelligently for ten years, will never foil of achieving an average success which Will satisfy reasonable expectations.