TilE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



159 



THE FARMER OF MODERN TIMES. 



It used to be rather a difficult matter to draw the 

 fanner out. He had something like a positive terror 

 of appearing in print, and would look cautiously round 

 a room to see that the newspaper people were 7iot there. 

 His business was consequently something of a secret. 

 He made it at home, and he kept it there. The very 

 leaders of those days were terribly mysterious. The 

 breeder of an improved kind of sheep or beast consi- 

 dered it his first care to keep his discovery all to him- 

 self. No doubt he would at once have taken out a 

 patent for it had this been possible. The stranger 

 visitor was always regarded with something of sus- 

 picion ; and the great fond aim of our friend's heart was, 

 to be left alone. He did not want to meddle with 

 other persons' business, and he certainly did not want 

 them to interfere with his. He went to his weekly 

 market, his rent audit, and on rare occasions, perhaps, 

 to a comparatively far-distant fair. But as a rule his 

 practice was still the same — to stop at home and mind 

 his own business. 



Tlie farmer of more modern times is an altered man. 

 He goes abroad to mind his own business. He speaks 

 not only face to face with the reporters, but writes, him- 

 self, many a letter to the papers — and this all about his 

 own vocation, too. Then, he is always asking you to 

 come and look over his place, and to see how he is get- 

 ting- on. He has some new process of cultivation, 

 which he should like others to try as well as him- 

 self. Or, if you really admire his stock, he will 

 show you, in the Herd- Book, or from some Itss 

 public record, how they are bred, and how he brought 

 them to what they are. So that, instead of being a 

 mystery or a secret, the practice of agriculture is 

 gradually becoming the most open-handed business 

 under the sun. There is no man but who may learn 

 something about it if he so chooses. Look only at 

 "the event" of this last week — the gathering at 

 Babraham. No one could have attended it without 

 "learning something" — not merely of sheep, but 

 almost equally of short-horn cattle, and a superior 

 system of cultivation. The wheat crop at Babraham 

 of this year is itself a sight to see. 



The plain truth is, that we have been opening and 

 expanding our minds as well as our doors. A secret at 

 best is rarely more than the ideal strength of ignorance 

 and meanness. The farmer is fortunately getting fast 

 beyond this, while we trace his emancipation to the 

 influence of one great cause. It is the inter-commu- 

 nication aflPorded by the establishment and success of 

 our Agricultural Societies that has almost altogether 

 conduced to such an advancement. Nothing less could 

 have accomplished it. A district sheep-shearing, or a 

 local celebration of the rites of Ceres, however good or 

 useful in the way of precedent, would lack this very 

 essential of intercommunication. You must by the 

 action of some general principle draw men away from 



themselves, as it were. If you merely ask one up to 

 the Hall, or into the next parish, to tell him thislis a very 

 good system, and that the^-e are very fine animals, he 

 will cross his hands, and fall back at once into " As 

 you were." There is a famous Club in London, to 

 which no one is eligible to be elected until he has been 

 so many hundred miles away from it. We are begin- 

 ning to apply much the same proviso to our Agricul- 

 tural Institutions. If you expect a man to farm well 

 in this quarter, you start him to see how they do it iu 

 another. 



But then, again, the golden rule for good and profit- 

 able farming is that it is a business that requires per- 

 petually looking after. Above all, you must see to it 

 yourself. The fine gentleman who gives his bailiff an 

 audience once or twice a- week, and rides over his oc- 

 cupation when he has nothing else to do, cannot expect 

 to make much of it. 'Tis at best but a coy maid, who 

 yields her favours to him only who is constant to her. 

 Here, then, ai'e we on the horns of a dilemma. Agri- 

 culture is a tarry-at-home trade, and yet we must go 

 abroad to perfect ourselves in it. But there is a time 

 for all things, and by availing ourselves of proper 

 opportunities the two may be no such contradiction 

 after all. At least, if they be, we stand not quite alone 

 in our misinterpretation. 



The great aim of the " West of England Journal" 

 would appear to be this drawing of farmers out. We 

 do not say so much, perhaps, away from their homes, 

 as to talk and write about matters relating to their own 

 condition. Like most things, moreover, connected 

 with the management of the West of England Society, 

 the attempt has succeeded. In short, straightforward, 

 unpretending papers — ^justsuch, in fact, as they should 

 be — the agriculturists of the district have become con- 

 tributors to their own organ and authority. In the 

 new number, for instance, amongst many similar 

 articles, a farmer strings together a dozen practical 

 hints for young farmers. He speaks to choice — 

 entry — size — plant — capital — iu-coming payments, 

 and so on. He quotes facts and figures in support of 

 his precepts, and he finishes with this very memorable 

 moral: ^'Supervision. — The necessity for supervision 

 makes it imperative on the young farmer — no talents 

 will make up for the want of it : it is the real secret, the 

 key-stone to successful farming : without it, nothing goes 

 on well : not only is less done, but it is not done so well. 

 Where was it known that a man farmed well if he was 

 much from home ? The diligent, watchful, enterprizing 

 farmer is sure to get on, sooner or later. He is re- 

 cognized as such, and will be valued accordingly. No 

 matter how good the farm, or how easily managed it 

 is ; if a farmer goes much from home, and trusts to his 

 servants, the whole establishment will get into con- 

 fusion — ruin ; while, if a different line of conduct had 

 been pursued, all would have been well — a thriving 



