WILL IT PAT?

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2526, 13 May 1882, Page 3

WILL IT PAT?

I From the " Weekly Press."! This ia the question naturally asked by everyone who is about to commence any new undertaking. The pay ia not oonfined by any means to mere money profit. Very many transaction! that bring large pecuniary returns are, in faot, very often losing ones. In legitimate works and enterprises the question of their paying is to be considered in advance, and a man's ability to foresee and oaloulate all the ciroumstanoes that affect profit and loss, and to thus know whether to go ahead or refrain, largely decides his success or failure. This applies no lets to farming and kindred labors than to business or commercial pursuits. As between the farmer and the importer, or jobber or manufacturer, or merchant in specific lines of trade, the latter classes have but a few leading points to consider, suoh as the probable demand and supply, while the farmer must not only take these into aooount, but also all the variations of soil, adaptability of crops, vicissitudes of climate, weather, &s. Hence " to be a successful farmer requires a wide range of knowledge, better reasoning—in short, better trained mental faoulties than any other calling named above." This is literally true, and a popular fallaoy to the contrary is responsible for the limited success of the mass of farmers, and the low estimate of their calling not only by others but by themselves and their sons and daughters. The old idea was that a young man lacking the necessary ability to undertake any of the other professions would do well enough for a farmer as a last resort. A further proof of the unpopularity into whioh the profession of farming has fallen, may be found in the numbers of young men always on the alert for town employment, preferring the dull monotony of the counting house to rural pursuits. The establishment of a model farm, where young men may obtain suoh a training as will qualify them for undertaking the management of farms for themselves or others, is a step in the right direotion, and will do much to render the business of farmer more attractive. We do not argue that every farmer should neoessarily be highly educated mentally, but we do olaim that the more knowledge any farmer acquires by reading about his business, by study and observation, and the more he trains and develops his thinking and reasoning faculties, the better will he be enabled to look ahead and to plan for the future, and besides the being more successful. In this view of the subject reading and study " will pay " the farmer even more largely than those in most other business pursuits. Every _ book or journal he reads brings him something of the thoughts, experiences, and observations _ of others, so long as they are of direct practical application to his own work; even if they are not, they at least increase his general knowledge, stimulate thought, and strengthen his ability to reason well, and indirectly at least pay a hundredfold. The cultivators of the soil far outnumber those in any other pursuit in this country. Is it not remarkable that, wbile we have scores of daily papers, some half-dozen weeklies devoting a amall space to matters agricultural and a bi-monthly "Journal of Agriculture," all having but a limited circulation, supply nearly all the reading about their own pursuits yet called for by the numerous class engaged in soil culture ? Is it any wonder, therefore, that our farmers as a rule should be found lagging behind, and loth to adopt the teachings of those who have called science to their aid. The time is, happily for themselves, fast passing away when farmers, not only ignorant of, but despising the scienoe of agrioulture, whioh they designated as mere " theory " or book knowledge, plnmed themselves as _ being " practioal,'.' in contradistinction to scientific men. In reality, however, science but seeks to discover principles upon whioh praotice can be securely based. The sooner our young farmers get hold of this idea, the better it will be for themselves and their farms. Many of our oolonial farmers have had no previous training, having by the force of oiroumstanoes been driven to adopt the profession of farming. To them the one idea is to get continuous oorn crops out of the land, without any regard to the capabilities of the soil. If their more experienced friends suggest a rotation, embracing roots and clover, tbey are at once met with the query, " Will it pay." A run through the oountry will soon prove to the observer that continuous corn oropping will not pay; the spread of sorrel and_ other noxious weeds observable in many distriots are the sure indications of a soil exhausted by continuous cropping. The discovery of the process whereby meat may be sent in a fresh oondition to the markets of Europe, forms the one bright spot in the agricultural horizon of this oountry. It furnishes a definite answer in the affirmative to tho oft repeated (anddiffioultto be answered) question " will it pay" small farmers to keep small flooks of sheep and fattening cattle. An outlet has now happily been supplied for all our surplus stock—let us thank scienoe for this. Poor old Meohi used to say—" No straw no cattle, no cattle no muck, no muck no coin." We do not think that there is any oountry in the world better adapted for what is known as paddook farming than Canterbury is. Oar own observation teaches us that wherever an attempt has been made to follow out any regular system of rotation, complete success has been the result. No greater mistake can be made than to suppose that oropping the land with corn, so long as it will yield a profit, and then laying down to grass will pay in the end. Grass ia like every other plant, it will only luxuriate where it finds ample food " Will it pay" to work a farm horse until he is worn to a skeleton, and then turn him out into a poor pasture to eke out a miserable existence till death comes to his relief ? Feed horses well and work them well is admitted to be the treatment which will pay beat in the end and last longest. And so it is with the land. Work it well, alternate the orops, keep sheep and cattle, feed your straw, and tolerate no weeds. We venture to say that this is the system whioh will pay-