Skilled Farming

It is not every man who bandles the plow that is qualiüed to occupy a chair in asi agricultural college, and yet not many of those who occupy the said chair are qualiüed to stand behind the plow. The professor may analyze the various materials furnished by nature, and arrive at valuable resulta ; be may reason learnedly in explanation of the eftects to be produced by certain cations to the soil, but unless he has the practical knowledge, gained by personal experience, all his theories will fail, whether they are true or not. The practical man knows the depth of the soil, he knows how much power and what kind of tools to use in preparing the land. He wiU teil you it won't do to throw much clay away with the soil, having tried that to the damage of his land. But the farming mentioned is not that of the editor, professor, or the plain, untutored, hard-handed farmer. In order to reach the highest degree of excellence, both must be combined. The value of his fertilizers, and how to apply them, must be understood. While some are to be put on the soil, others are to be applied to the plant itself, as in the case of growing clover, etc. Human labor is the most valuable of all earthly things ; all productions are the result of it, aud it is worth more than gold or silver or the costliestpearls, because none of these elements of nature could be brought to light without it ; therefore it should not be wasted. The flat haa gone forth that you must work, but it should be borne in niind that it was not man's choice, and he is as much inclined to avoid it now as ever. Henee, to release himself he has had to do a vast amonnt of thinking and maneuvering to save labor, which has resulted, step by step, into what, as farmers, we called skilled farming. It requires as much labor to work an acre of poor land as an acre of rich land. The poor landwill yieldonly a fraction of what the rich yields, yet vast numbers of hard-working and patient-toiling men seem not to notice this, and go on, froin year to year, wearing out the land and themselves, and obtaining but a meagre support. 1 have noticed that farmers, as a raass, are an economical class of men in everything except the sa ving of their land. Many of them will liaggle with you in buying goods, or in trading in stock, etc, while every rainfall sweeps away quantities of the best soil on their flelds and they Jo not observe it, and af ter a few years oí land skimming, they begin to talk of going to a new country where the land üs rich. Now the skillful farmer should never let apieceof land go down under his cultivation. If be will iuform himself by reading and studying bis profession, his lands will iraprove instead oí wearing out, and he will love I1Í3 borne, and his wife and children will take pride in it, and he will uot care for Texas or Oalfornia, he having a gold mine in hi3 own fleld, and knowing how to extract the precious metala. Skilled farming means to get the highest result for your land and labor ; it means to improve instead of diminish in valué the land from which you draw your income. It means to have around you the happiest train of earthly enjoyments. ïhe farmer, with bis flocks and his íields, his fine fruit and i well-filled larder should have a good time gen erally.