HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH? 



75 



Not farm for pleasure only, nor for recreation mcrel}', neither as 

 drudgcr}- ; not because he is adapted to nothing else, for if he is 

 not fit for anything else, he certainly will not succeed here. But 

 let him pursue this as his life work. Let him put his brain, his 

 muscle, his raone}- into it; let his reading, his thinking, his talking 

 be in this direction in the main. No matter how much he reads 

 about other matters ; no matter how much he talks and thinks about 

 something else ; let him read, think and talk about this more. Let 

 him never forget that it is the men of one idea who have accom- 

 plished most in this world, and that the only road to success is In- 

 jiursuing some definite object ; that one of the best maxims for the 

 farmer is, "Think well before you pursue it, and when you begin 

 go through it." 



Again, the farmer should be a generous man. In his dealings 

 with mother earth he will do well to keep in mind that she holds 

 him to strict justice. However merciful and gracious she may 

 have been in the past, her bowels of mercy have forever closed 

 against him ; that the key to her treasures is no longer at the outer 

 door. If he would have them he must dig for them ; he nuist go 

 down deep into her store house and work as for hidden treasures, 

 not forgetting that he who is not weary in well doing shall, in due 

 season, reap if he faint not, and always keeping in mind, that 

 he who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingh% and that whatso- 

 ever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. We have more than 

 intimated that the farmer should have some definite object. We 

 mean bj' this, that he should have some specialty which should oc- 

 cup3' most of his attention. We urge this, because often men are 

 driven, by necessit}-, to ask themselves if the}- are doing that which 

 is best adapted to their condition. They often find themselves 

 weighed down with Saul's armor, when a shepherd's sling, and a few 

 small stones from the brook, would promise much better su(^cess. 

 But, to follow out our idea, a farmer's garden should contain a 

 variety of the comforts and the luxuries, if the}- can be affoided ; 

 but in cultivating his fields, let him have some special crop that 

 shall claim most of his attention. What this shall be, men must 

 decide for themselves. We can here make only a few suggestions. 

 If he lives upon the sea board, where potatoes can be shipped easily 

 and readily, then we are inclined to think tliis would be his paying 

 crop. If away from the sea board, the transportation often eats up 

 the profit. If his lot is cast in a dairy district, let him pursue this 



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