A FARMER MUST THINK

Waikato Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1592, 26 June 1903, Page 2

A FARMER MUST THINK

Townspeople have a notion chat farming is a simple, rule>.of-thumb sort of business, and that anybody can make money at it. As a matter of fact, a successful farmer must do a lot tf thinking and planning, and though a happy-go lucky style may occasionally prove successful, the farmer who is always thinking is the one >o succeed in the long run. It may be said that he who is thoroughly absorbed in his business, whatever it may be/generally prospers, but 1 do not meau to say that it is absolutely essential to be so wrapped up in one occupation that no time or attention can be given to anything else. Money-grubbing is not the sole object of life, and every man owes a duty to the community of which he is a member, and also a duly to his country at large. I know farmers who consider nothing but their own interests and profit, and will not devote the least time to public duties, not even to sit on a school committee. It would be a poor world if everybody were like that. It is a notorious fact, however, thai; all farmers, even the most broad-minded, are too self-centred and apathetic in retard to matters of general interest and good citizenship. I'a return tc the more practical aspect of my subject, I wuuld point out that it is a mistake to fancy that hard manual labour is indispensible to success. A bit of good solid thinking is of more importance than a week's hard slogging with the hands. Old farmers are fond of saying that in their young days farmers worked much harder than they do now. They did not believe in taking a holiday or in wasting time reading about uew-faneled ideas or listening to lectures, or trying to understand a little more about the theory of farming. They considered that industry and thrift were the only roads to success—nothing but doeged persistence in rough, hard work yeur in, year out. There are the thoughtful and the thoughtless in all classes, and probably the happy medium is the most desirable. The natural conditions of a farmer's life are conducive to thinking, but in too many cases the monotony of farm work tends to an objectless vacuous frame of mind like that ot the ploughman of whom it has been said, ' He whistles us he goes for want of thought.' The mixed farming that prevails nowadays requires much careful thinking in arranging the rotation of crops, the ordering of the work of the teams, so that everything goes smoothly and expeditiously, the choice of manure and the selection of fodder and root crops, the breeding and fattening of lambs, sorting the flock and disposing of surplus sheep—these are only a tew of the multitudinous operations requiring a thoughtful and intelligent head piece on the individual in charge, be he owner, tenant, or manager. Thrift and industry are just as important now ns in the 'good old times' that somo are fond of referring to —these qualities can never become of less importance ; but at the same timß we must not lose sight of the valua of the thinking faculty, and the man of 100 acres requires to use his brains as much as he who farms 1000 acres, and if tha smaller man can make cr save £lO by using his brains to some effect, he does as well as the bigger man who saves or makes £loo—Acricola in Otago Witness.