Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 November 1876 — Lueky Farmers. [ARTICLE]

Lueky Farmers.

Not long since in returning from a brief trip Into Southern Michigan we 'fell in with an acquaintance who resides in one of the flofiriAhing towns of that splendid region of country known as the St. Jo Valley. While passing through a section where our friend knew every farmer in a circuit of, twenty miles, conversation drifted into the agricultural channel, so to speak; the chief topic being therdifferenoe- in the success of men who have lived, in the same vicinity for years, : in> getiihg on in fife world, sphere tfeqir occupation exclusively is, ana has been, the cultivation of their farms. “ Now, there,” said our friend, “ isMr. G’s farm. His land ’was no better at the start than tha| of his neighbors, but it; yields better crops on an Average, and somehow or other he always gets more money out of it than any pf them do from 'theirs. There’ are men who,' to 7 all, ap-j pearances, work as hard, and plan as weft, but one year with another he gets away with them when it coines to crops and prices. He makes it pay. The fact is, he is lucXy.” / We suggested that this iMc consists in the intelligent use, bythe man, of his brains. And therein is the pecret of his success. Lucky farmers are those who ensure luck by bringing to bear upon their farming the. best knowledge they are able to command', from whatever, source it may be obt&Ufed. There never was a more mistaken notion entertained by mortal man, than that farming can be carried on profitably and successfully with no knowledge on the farmer’s part beyond the routine of ordinary methods in its various department.. ■ It is not our desire to indite a homily upon poor farming, but node know better, than intelligent farmers themselves, that there is vast room for improvement among the masses who are engaged in thia, the greatest of all human pursuits. Knowledge is the great want of American farthers—knowledge how best to increase. the productiveness of land. for, as we have often said before, the highest aim of every judicious and intelligent fanner is to increase, at the least expense, the fertility of his soil until it reaches the u&fimum in producing crops; knowledge how to improve the quality of his stock by judicious crossing and treatment, so that he will realize the highest profits for his beef, pork, dairy products, etc., for what it costs to raise and fit the animals for market; knowledge of the best methods and processes in the cultivation pf t£e various crops which it is to hfs-interest to raise. In short, knowledge is the key ito unlock the wealth ffifft rttrides'-in the scil—not as' a temporary deposit to be improyldently wasted, but a mine to be madqlncre productive and remunerative from .Wording it. The man who farms it on tmt Idea recognizes the importance of brain as well as brawn in his business. He will not sacrifice his soil under jmy circumstances; he manages so that his land is favored by the crops it bears, or in other words, so tl|fd> he adds more elements of fertility to it than he takes from it. Skill is required to do this; but therof£<jjarmqrß wfip de it i and these are they who 'achieve the highest profits in thp long run -the ferity farmers, if you please. Simple .routine farming—plowing and sowing and' reaping at hap-haEara—will not Wit, and pot onrjr so, it will carry the farmer farther ana ftirther from it until the rotund) from the land will not pay the cost of production.— Wetiorn Rural.