State Convention'—Farm-Banks. 
427 
$20 an acre he had actually paid on it, so that he had not only lost 
all his time, but he had lost $4,000. If that farmer could have once 
been satisfied that his farm would pay to keep it in a good state of 
cultivation, he might have been able to pay for his place, and had 
his farm, worth $8,000, at the end of a few years. 
Mr. Clark: Inasmuch as something has been said during this 
meeting in regard to establishing an agricultural paper, I wish to 
relate one circumstance in connection with that. A young man, 
a distant relative of mine, who, through my influence, had pur¬ 
chased a small farm which he was able to manage, was at my house 
within a }’ear. I said something to him about taking an agricul¬ 
tural paper, and that it would benefit him. He was a good worker 
and had time to read. He objected to it, and said he didn’t think 
much of this book-farming; it was not practical, etc. I said to him 
thas it was not expected that everything was practical in every 
place. We are governed by circumstances, but to bring him di¬ 
rectly to the point, I related one circumstance in relation to my 
own affairs, and that is what I shall state. In the spring of 185S 
an agent came around with what was called Jones’ corn-planter. 
It planted by hand, two rows at a time. I bought one; I admit it 
has been a good planter. One of its greatest recommendations 
was that it was a sure preventative of gophers taking up the corn. 
We had a good many gophers in our vicinity at that time. I 
planted it deep, with a firm faith that the gophers wouldn’t find it. 
There were plenty on the prairie where we lived. Right after I 
planted I was called away as a juror. When I returned, my corn 
was pretty well used up. I found it was just the thing for the 
gophers. The rascals saw the mark the planter had made, and 
took the corn. It was too late to plant it over, and I told the 
young man that I estimated that I lost $200 that year on that 
piece of corn. Now, I said to him, I have learned something. 
Necessity is the mother of invention. The next year I bushed or 
harrowed my corn as fast as planted. I never went to dinner with¬ 
out having it all bushed or harrowed. I have never been troubled 
since with the gophers. Now, I sa>s, if some one had found that 
out before I did and published it in the papers, instead of getting 
the information the way I did, I could have received benefit from 
it, and probably have saved about $200. 
