FARMER and J'LANTER.
CAN WE AFFORD IT?
A Q II<-M ion Frequently Arl»in« in tlie
Dully Life of flic Funner l[ion
Which Much IlinKCK.
Very frequently this is the question
which interests the farmer: “Can I
afford to do this?” It may be the pur
chase of a new farm implement; it
may be the construction of some
building, or it may be the investment
of money-in any one of the hundred
and one ways which arise on the farm
that calls forth this query, and its
settlement is a matter of no small de
gree of consequence to him whose
mind is striving to reach the best pos
sible answer to it.
It is a somewhat dangerous thing
for one man to attempt to say how
another shall solve this vexed ques
tion. So many and so varying are the
circumstances surrounding each in
dividual that what would be best for
one farmer might not be the right
thing at all for another. For that
reason he who would advise on the
multitudinous problems which are
/ arising from time to time on the farm
must be very careful indeed. But
there are some things one may sug
gest which will not in the least em
barras the man who reads in his de
. ?ire to know what may be best for
him.
It seems to me the farmer can af
ford to have a comfortable home.
Comfort and extravagance are terms
widely divergent. The man who is not
wealthy may yet possess everything
worth while to make himself and his
family comfortable. Only the rich can
be extravagant. The sooner we learn
this the better. Thousands of farmers
are keeping themselves poor trying
to keep pace with the wealthy. Very
unsatisfactory is it to have a house
full of luxuries and know that they
had been purchased at the expense
of peace of mind. But a good house,
warm clothing, barns which keep all
within is comfortable, and bright
cheery prospects all around, every
farmer certainly can afford.
Again, none of us can afford to
bring our boys and girls up in idle
ness. Idleness on the farm? Yes. We
all know of farms on which the boys
and girls are not expeeted to do any
thing unless they “feel like it.” It is
too much for them to lend a helping
hand to father and mother unless they
are so inclined. They have no regular
duties. Life for them has nothing of
responsibility. They have no earnest
ness of purpose, and by and by they
will start out in the world for them
selves, wholly unprepared to meet its
demands. Failure can only follow.
Every farmer boy and girl ought to
have a fairly good education. The boy
should know all about preparing the
soil for the various crops, and under
stand the proper use of tools con
nected with their proper sowing and
harvesting. He should be able to do
anything bearing upon the internal
economy of the household. Xo farmer
can afford to send his children out in
to life in these days of sharp compe
tition without just this kind of prep
aration. If he does he is in a great
measure responsible for the failures
which may overtake them. He may
not be able to send his boys and girls
away to college or to give them in
the fullest sense a finished education,
but within the reach of every young
man or woman of the present day is
the opportunity to gain a knowledge
of all subjects sufficient to enable him
to go through the world holding his
head up with the best man of his as
quaintance.
it may seem almost unnecessary at
the present time to speak in this way,
and yet I know of many and many a
boy who is growing' up unable to do
more than write his own name and
read after a manner, wholly unac
quainted with all the rules of busi
ness. It has been my fortune to come
into contact with many men in a
business way, and I have often been
pained to hear men say: “You had
better write my name there and let
me sign my mark. 1 can’t see very
well, and have left my spectacles at
home.” 1 knew well enough that this
was only a pretty fiction to cover up
the fact that they could not use the
pen v\ell enough to sign their names
to the paper before them.
Once more, the farmer can afford
to keep up with the best thought of
his time. What a chorus will go up
when men read that sentence! “You
do not know how busy I am. Every
moment of my time is taken up with
my farm work. I have no idle hours
to spend with bocks and papers. If
you are fortunate enough to be able
to sit in the house and read, I am
glad of it. I envy you, however.” And
so the objections rise. Well, 1 do not
believe there 5s a man in all this
world who is busier than he who pens
these words. For him there are no
idle hours from year’s end to year's
end; and yet it is his pride that not
less than 30 papers find their way
regularly to his table. Some of these
are purely agricultural, some for the
good wife, some for the children,
some for us all. A'ot every word in
all these papers is read, but each is
studied for the thought or the fact
which may be made use of. No day is
so short or so crowded with work
that the man who so determines can
not lind a few moments to learn how
the world stands in its relation to him
at that particular time.-lie who does
not do this is waging an unequal bat
tle,, and one in which his sueeess ean
but be unsatisfactory.
Then, too, the farmer most find
time to shake off care and breathe
the breath of life in other fields than
those of his own every-day environ
ments. lie is a narrow man who does
not look up from his hoeing, his plow
ing and his gathering into barns long
enough to find .out, by means of. per
sonal contact, what his fellow is do
ing. Perhaps in nothing else does the
farmer more neglect his own best
good than in the matter of rest.
As for the question of farm tools,
buildings, stock and farm equipments
generally, those things must, from
their very nature, be left to the in
dividual. But far too often, I think,
we are not as liberal with ourselves
in these things as the highest success
would dictate. The time has come
when we must be able to do our work
promptly and in the best possible
manner. If we do not we shall soon
find ourselves far in the rear of the
procession. This does not mean that
any one should bankrupt himself or
starve his family or himself for the
sake of purchasing tools. By no
means. There is reason in all things.
It is worth while for every man to
ask himself whether the money he
has earned by the hardest kind of
work might not better be invested in
something which shall make his work
a little easier or the home life more
attractive to the wife and young
folks, than to be hidden away in the
bank to be the source of future trou
ble.
Hut in all these matters we ought
to remember that it is, above all,
worth while for the farmer to do ev
erything possible to bring out the
very best that .is within him. This is
the truest and best object in living.—
hdgar L. Vincent, in Farm and Pre
side.
Corn nud Its Future.
The somewhat startling fact is an*
nonneed by men who have made a
study of the question that the pro
duction of corn lias reached its limit
in this country, while the demand for
it is bound to constantly increase. It
is claimed that the days of cheap
corn—corn at 15 to 25 cents per bush
el—are over and that the greatly-in
creased demand is likely to force the
average value oi‘ this cereal to about
40 cents as against an average value of
about 30 cents ft r the past decade—in
other words, that the corn crop is
likely to be worth 25 per cent, more
for the coming ten years than for the
past ten. This fact, if it proves to be
well stated, will be good news to the
residents of the corn belt, for coup
led with it will be the certain ad
vance in value of all meat commodi
ties of which corn is the foundation.
—Farmers’ Giude.
HERE AND THERE.
—Don’t fail to read the best argieul*
tural papers. Form your own conclu
sions, then work them out, since it is
the only sure way to make the farm
pay
—The right man to lecture before
an institution attended by practical
farmers is the man who is learned in
the science as well as in the work of
farming.
—If farmers an a class expect to
prosper and enjoy the fruits of their
industry they must organize for mu
tual protection, just as all those who
are engaged in minor occupations are
doing.
—Fine harness is all very well for
the one who can afford it, but old and
cheap harness may be just as com
fortable. In either case it must fit.
The. horse is most interested in the
collar, the bit and the head-stall.
—With the advent of the rural free
delivery system it is to be hoped that
no farmer on the route will delay an
swering all strictly business letters
without 2± hours. The habit of
promptly replying to letters of in
quiry is daily becoming' more neces
sary.
—The use of alfalfa in the fattening
pen, can hardly be over valued. Cut
green and fed to the animals, twice
or three times a day, it will give as
good results as though the swine were
given the run of the field. It is prob
ably more satisfactory as a soiling
crop for hogs than as a pasture.
—“Packing house butter” is quoted
in Chicago at eight cents per pound,
and creamery, same day, twenty
cents. The same cream required for
a pound of one would make a pound
of the other. Why should men spoil
good cream making eiglit-cent but
ter?
—With all the boasted economy of
our forefathers, and it was fully de
served. we are fast learning to sur
pass them in many ways, imputations
to the contrary notwithstanding.
This is not so much due to increase
of frugality as to change of condi
tions, the latter largely a residt of
inventions and general progress.
DO NOT WANT TO BE MEN.
Reasonx (<lvrn by Some litmijf Worn,
en for I’ref err Ins' Their
Own Sex.
A writer in (lie National Review sets
forth some curious and amusing re
sults secured by asking several hun
dred schoolgirls the following ques
tions: “Which would you ralher be, a
man or a woman, and why'.1” There is
a striking difference between the an
swers of the children in (iermany, in
England and in the United States;
also between the answers of the little
girls of New England and of Indiana.
Apparently the farther west one
comes the higher is the estimation in
which womanhood is held, says the
Chicago Tribune.
in Indiana only J-t per cent, wished
they were men, and in New England 15
per cent. In England 34 per cent,
wished to be men, urging that me
had a better time, more glory, and
more money. In Germany most of
the girls were not allowed to answer,
but those who did so took the sober
view that “ft is wicked to wish to be
a man.” In Germany there were none
who expressed a belief in the superi
ority of women. In England there
were four per cent.; in New England,
14 per cent., and in Indiana 34 per
cent. Evidently the women of Indiana
are of superfine material.
The reasons of the 85 or SC per cent,
who were true to their sex are inter
esting if not alarming to the mascu
line mind. A large percentage, espe
cially in New England, said they would
rather be women because women are
better than men. Twenty per cent, of
the Indiana maidens were glad they
were not men because men’s lives were
so dull and commonplace. In general,
the American girl seems to be con
vinced that “it is more important to
be a woman than a man,” and is deter
mined to get her “share of the world”
in spite of the men who own it. One
says she would rather be a woman be
cause she cannot be anything else, and
she means to be “as good as a man,
anyway.” One is reminded frequently
of Mrs. Poyser by the replies of tlie
Indiana girls, of which these are de
lightful examples;
'Women are more industrious than
men are.”
“Women have good chances in life;
they can be in any profession; ofr, if
they do not want to be, they can marry
and do nothing'.”
“I would rather be a woman, be
cause they suffer more than men, and
it is blessed to suffer.”
“1 was born a girl, and I shall have
to be a woman, so there is no use in
crying over spilt milk.”
“A man can work harder, and a
Woman has more sense. If I wanted
to be a man it would be no use, and
men swear and spit on the floor, so I
have not lost much."
“I would rather be a woman, as they
have better chances in life as teachers
in public schools.”
“I would rather be a woman any
day; men get drunk and steal, and
they can’t work or make children’s
clothes or do anything useful.”
Evidently there is a hard fime com
ing for American men when these
frank-spoken Iloosier maidens grow
to maturity. Their almost unanimous
verdict on the comparative merits of
men and women ought to cause the
lords of creation to take a humbler es
timate of themselves.
A Scotchman's Idea of Peace.
After this fashion does a Scotch
farmer rebuke his sons for a recent
tight:
“ ‘Ye hae been fechtin’ again, ye
blakes,’ thundered their father. ‘Mind
ye, if this happens again I will break
every bone in your bodies. 1 will have
you know that I am a man of peace!’”
—is. U. Crockett, in New Lippincott.
A METHODIST BISHOP
GIVES PE-RU-NA GREAT CREDIT.
A
f BISHOP GRANT, OF INDIANAPOLIS.
Bishop A. Grant, of Indianapolis
Ind., writes the following letter:
Indianapolis, Indiana, )
3349 N. Pennsylvania Street. \
Peruna Medicine Co., Columbus, O.:
Gentlemen —“ / have been using Pe
runa for catarrh and can cheerfully rec
ommend your remedy to anyone whi
wants a good medicine.”—-A. Grant.
Prominent members of the elerg;
are giving Peruna their unqualified en
dorsement. These men find Peruni
especially adapted to preserve then
from catarrh of the vocal organs whicl
has always been the bane of publi
speakers, and general catarrhal debil
ity incident to the sedentary life o
the clergyman. Among the recent lit
terances of noted clergymen on th
curative virtues of Peruna is the abov
one from Bishop Grant.
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Remedy, Pe-ru-na.
The day was when men of promi
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mending' l’eruna. <
The following letters from pastor*
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Rev. E. G. Smith, pastor of the Pres
byterian Church, of (ireensboro, tia.,
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after taking two bottles of Peruna the
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For this special malady 1 consider it
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Rev. A. S. Vaughn, Eureka Springs,
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> Address Dr. Hartman, President of
> The Hartman Sanitarium, Columbus,
Ohio.
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CURED BY